Fight for Recognition
by hinata606
Summary: The story takes place after Jiraya's death. Naruto and the others are back from their mission. Naruto seems to take Jiraya's death badly. Elsewhere Hinata has trouble in her life to deal with. Will Hinata be finally acknowledeged by her friends and family
1. Chapter 1 The Training

**Fight for Recognition**

**Chapter 1 – The Training**

_Slow, slow. Concentrate, concentrate. Think sharper, stronger and quicker. Let the chakra flow through your palms smoothly. Concentrate. Have to get stronger. Breathe slowly, concentrate, concen – _SQAWK.

Hinata opened her eyes suddenly, slipped off the rock, and fell into the water, alarmed by the cry of the bird in the distance. She sighed, slowly getting out of the water, and sat on the smooth face of the rock. She shivered in the cold wind, thinking what her father would think of her wet clothes and late night appearance. She sighed again and looked up at the moon. It looked like a reflection of her pale white eyes. She soon went on to think of Naruto.

_He must feel bad,_ _the teacher he came to know as a grandfather, the Great Sannin Lord Jiraya was dead._(Sigh)_ I wish I could help him, he looked so sad and heartbroken..._

_But how can I help, I'm not nearly as strong as him, and I haven't gone through the same things as he has. I don't know much about Lord Jiraya either, apart from the fact that he was one of the legendary Sannin like Lady Tsunade and Orochimaru._

She sighed again, feeling depressed, though not nearly as depressed as Naruto. Getting up she dried her long ink-black hair with her hands, not exactly draining all of the water, leaving her heavy hair still wet. She started to walk back towards the Hyuuga Manor, hoping not to encounter anyone from her family. She looked back again at the moon, hoping that she could be stronger for her friends.

She was hoping that maybe next time she won't be frightened for her life. She might be strong enough to use that jutsu. However, just like always, she knew deep down in her heart that again she would be a failure.

She turned away from the moon. Facing the ground, she let her long dark hair hide her eyes that were presently glistening with tears. Her heart ached knowing that she will yet again let everyone down, especially her clan and friends.

She brought her right hand up to her face, and brushed off the few remaining crystals of ice in the center of her pale palm, which felt as cold as the ice crystals. She sneezed, realizing that if she didn't get dry quickly, she will catch a cold. Miserably she thought, _having a cold doesn't help anyone but giving myself more excuses to be weak._


	2. Chapter 2 The Question

**I have completed this chapter so please read. And I would like to thank **_**Constructive Critic Writer **__**,**_** for the advice, and honest comments. I tried t follow your advice, not sure I did good. Thanks again to everyone reading my fanfic.**

**Chapter 2 – The Question**

Bright rays of sunlight filled a medium sized room with Japanese style sliding doors, which had its back on the beautiful well watered Hyuuga back yard. The room itself was well fragranced, and smelt of lavender due to the vases of lavender on either sides of the single bed, which looked like any girl's bed (not girl y).

As the sun rays fell on a pair of pale smooth eyelids with long dark lashes, Hinata woke up to the bright morning. Lying back on her bed, she revealed her pale whitish lavender eyes, and her noble heart shaped face with the enviable pink full lips, that was crowned by her long ink black hair that lay around her head in a tangled mess.

She sat up slowly, her eyes dazed, not thinking. She was thinking about last night, and about how her father had been waiting for her by the entrance. She remembered how her father had a look on his face, which showed that he was disgusted by her behavior. However before she could explain, that she had been out training, he had turned back and walked into the manor without looking back, leaving her in the dust.

Shaking out of her daze, she decided to get of her bed. Looking out through her window, she realized that it was probably around six in the morning. While training out late in the night, she got used to the way time works, and found it easy to guess time. She looked at her clock just to make sure, and as usual she was right, it was ten past six.

She opened the doors leading to her back yard, and breathed in the strong scents of the flowers, that she had planted when younger. She took in the sights of the beautiful little pond that she and her mother had built, when her mother was still alive, and when she was still loved.

She looked to her side when she heard soft footsteps and a yawn. Her younger sister Hanabi was stretching. Hinata smiled, surprised that her sister had woken up early. Her sister never woke up early. No one ever complained of course.

She still loved her sister even if Hanabi didn't share the feelings. Hanabi reminded her so much of her mother and father at the same time, although she looked like her mother with her round face and shoulder length dark brown hair, she had her father's mannerisms with the air of arrogance around her and the knowing look of nobility; she was a true Hyuuga of the Head family. Unlike Hinata.

Hanabi turned around to face her sister. Hinata smiled at her younger sister kindly. Hanabi scowled, going back into her room to sleep, and slammed the door shut. Hinata's face fell. With a sigh, she realized that even if it had been about three years since she had come back to live in the Hyuuga house hold, no one in her family would truly acknowledge her, because to them she was nothing, but a failure.

"Good morning, Hinata." A soft, cool voice sounded to Hinata's left. With a start, Hinata looked to her left, surprised to find her older cousin, Neji Hyuuga, standing by the doorway to his bedroom, without any expression on his face.

"Go-good morning, brother." Hinata said hurriedly, bowing down in respect to her cousin. She blushed lightly, knowing that he had seen her little encounter with Hanabi, and that he had probably heard about last night.

Neji sighed, _why is she so soft? Her younger sister treats her like filth and all she does is stand there and sigh. No wonder this girl is so weak..._

_Although she does have some really good jyuuken moves..._

"I will see you at breakfast, Hinata." Saying that he walked past her, as cool as a cucumber.

"Ye-yes, see y-you brother..." Hinata muttered off into the distance, to no one in particular, as Neji had already left five seconds ago.

She sighed again, she seemed to be doing a lot of sighing lately. She walked back into her bedroom, and closed the door. She sat on the end of her bed, thinking of what to do today. Getting up, she decided to take a bath.

After her bath, Hinata decided to dress up in her usual training clothes. She pulled on her purple jacket, and zipped it to the top. She was about to leave her room for the training grounds, when she heard a firm knock on her door.

She opened the door to find a young Hyuuga guard, bowing in front of her.

"Lady Hinata, your father has requested your presence right now in his office. He said to make haste." He bowed again after giving his message, and turned to go.

"Th-thank you." Hinata replied before he could leave. The young guard frowned, surprised that the Hyuuga heiress had actually thanked him. It was unusual for anyone of her standard to be polite to someone of his status.

After he had left, Hinata hurried out of her room and arrived by her father's office. She knocked slightly on his door, waiting for his response.

"Come in." Was all she heard. Without wasting time, Hinata slid in, and bowed in front of her father, and sat opposite him, careful to keep her back straight. It was after she had sat down, that she had noticed that sitting next to her, was her cousin Neji.

"Hinata the reason I called both you and Neji here... is because of the matter of your marriage."

At this both Hinata's and Neji's eyelids flew open.

"As you know Hinata, you are not strong enough to be a heiress by yourself, so I will have to get you married to someone who is strong in skill, and of a strong background. In about two weeks time, the son of the Fire Country's Feudal Lord, will be seeking a bride. Since you are of the Hyuuga Head family, and have come of age, you will take part and win his heart. This is what you will do for your clan."

Hinata's lip quivered. Neji glanced alongside at Hinata, and was surprisingly feeling bad for her.

"Neji, you of course are the next male after me, and so , you should look after Hinata and make sure that nothing happens to her. Also, I will be sending you in my stead." With this Hiashi Hyuuga stood up to go. Before leaving he turned back and looked at Hinata,

"Hinata for once in your life, try not to be selfish."

_Selfish? Hinata is anything but selfish. I wish she would just hurry up and say something, well at least she could start crying, then I will be able to defend her at least._ Neji thought, still looking at Hinata.

"Do both of you understand?"

Both Neji and Hinata nodded.

"Good. You are dismissed."

**Thank you all for reading. Please give me a review. Good or bad, please be honest. Also I would like to know if it is too long and do you find it boring? Thannnnnnnkkkkkkkk Youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**


	3. Chapter 3 The Mission

**OK first off sorry because I didn't update sooner, I have a life so unfortunately have to go college. And thanks for the reviews so far. **

**I would like to thank_ Lady Rini _for the review. Hinata is my favorite character so I tried to keep her the same the best I could. Don't know much about Hanabi, assuming Hinata becomes heiress, Hanabi will become branch family, enough reason for Hanabi to behave that way. Also thank you for adding my story in your favorites, I'm really honored my lady.**

**I would also like to thank _Constructive Critic Writer_, hopefully by the end of the story I would have gotten better. **

**Thank you everyone who's reading this story, and I hope you like it.**

**Chapter 3 – Mission**

It had already been about two hours since Hinata had her little meeting with her father, at the Hyuuga compound. She was walking, deep in thought in the training grounds. She had her head bowed down, her fingers poking each other held in front of her chest, when she bumped into someone.

Meanwhile, Kakashi Hatake, the Copy Ninja was as usual walking by the training grounds with his head immersed deep into his Icha Icha series. His perverted self showing as he muttered to himself and smiled behind his mask as he read the book,

"He,he, he... naughty, naughty..." Exactly at that point he bumped quite hard into someone, he looked up from his book to see who he had pushed over.

He was surprised to see that it was Hinata, even more surprised to see that she did not blush, or mutter an apology quickly, in fact what he found so unusual about the Hyuuga heiress today, was that she had not moved from her fallen spot, and in fact had stayed there, thinking about whatever she had been thinking to start with.

Kakashi tilted his head to the side and frowned, wondering if she was thinking about Naruto. Had he done something to worry Hinata so much? Or was she thinking about someone else? If so, had she finally gotten over Naruto?

"Hinata? Are you okay?" Kakashi asked concerned. If anything happened to her... He shivered visibly, it would be a very bad idea to get on the wrong side of Lord Hiashi. He knew what Lord Hiashi was capable of, since he had seen it himself and ended up hospitalized for two weeks.

His question pulled Hinata back to reality, she blushed and quickly stood. She bowed and muttered,

"Sorry Kakashi Sensei, I didn't see where I was going..." She trailed off, wondering what the older man would say.

"That's okay, but are you okay? You seem to be thinking deeply about something."

"Uh, um, n-no-o, I me-mean, I'm o-okay a-and I was only thinking, not too-o de-eply." Hinata stuttered nervously. She blushed again, for behaving like an idiot.

"Hmm.. oh well, if you're okay. We wouldn't want our little princess to get hurt, would we?" Kakashi smiled, his visible eye forming an inverted 'U' shape. Hinata blushed, a deep crimson red and smiled, bowing her head again.

Kakashi started to walk, he stopped just past Hinata, and without looking back said,

"Oh, and Hinata? You're wanted at the Hokage's office.......... now." With that he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

_Now,_ thought Hinata frantically, _I'll never reach there in time_. Without thinking any further, Hinata focused all her chakra to the soles of her feet and ran, dodging every obstacle. If her father had seen her then, he would have been proud of her agility.

As she reached the Hokage tower, she slowed down, and ran up the stairs, two at a time. She skidded to a halt in front of the Hokage's office, and waited patiently for the Hokage to call her in.

"Come in." Called a strong, female voice. As Hinata entered, she saw the Hokage sitting by her desk with a serious expression on her face. In front of her, were Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yamanaka and Naruto Uzumaki.

She blushed, looking at Naruto. However the usually hyperactive ninja, was very quite. He kept his head bowed, and didn't even greet Hinata. The others seemed to sense this, and all had a sad look on their faces, they missed his loud, brash voice. Even though they would never admit it, his loudness had always kept them cheerful.

"Alright, the reason I called the four of you here, is because you will take part in a C-ranked mission. You may complain but there is nothing to it, this is the final decision, you four are going."

Saying this, Lady Tsunade looked expectantly at Naruto, waiting for him to argue as usual but for once in his life he didn't argue. Tsunade raised her finally arched eyebrow at this, she had never seen Naruto this depressed. Jiraya's death really had affected him.

"Since there is nothing else to discuss, lets move on to the mission. You will go to the town of Hakagure.

So far nine girls have been kidnapped, and there is no obvious suspect. The parents of these nine girls together have asked for this mission.

Shikamaru will lead the team, and you're mission is to see that these nine girls are safely returned to their parents and these kidnappers are caught.

I will give you one week to complete this mission. Now if you have nothing else to say, you will leave this noon. You are dismissed."

Everyone, bowed, and left one by one. Unusually Naruto was the first to leave. Hinata watched Naruto's back sadly. She was about to leave, when the Hokage held her back ,

"Hinata, wait. I need to talk to you."

**Thank you all for reading again. Pleasssssssssssssssssssssss review, good or bad, no problemsssssssssssssssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!**

**Note: I'm not related to Orochimaru.**


	4. Chapter 4 Departure

**Sorry, some technical malfunction my side (well, I just couldn't open the file since it wasn't compatible on my computer, but well it sounded dramatic enough). I should say that I'm really pleased with the great responses I've had so far. In fact, I was thinking of giving up this story, since no one seemed much interested, but thanks for encouraging me with your reviews.**

**I would like to thank _soundless steps_ for the review, however I would like to point out that Naruto mostly tends to leave last, since he always argues with Tsunade, more so if he is given a C-ranked mission.**

**I would also like to thank _neonlion_, thanks dude great review!!!! As well as _767inuyasha767_ for adding my story as favorites.**

**Please keep reading and if you can spare a minute write me a review. Pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! With cherry and icing on top!!!!!!!!!**

**Thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanksssssssssssssssss enjoy reading!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

**Chapter 4 – Departure**

**At the Hokage's Office**

The Hokage, Lady Tsunade was sitting by her desk, looking through the piles of paper waiting in front of her. Shizune, her assistant was standing next to her ticking through the list on her clipboard. The clock chimed, and Tsunade looked up to see, that it was already twelve.

She sighed deeply. Shizune looked up to see Tsunade, sitting with her head in between her hands.

"Lady Tsunade, are you okay? Is something wrong?" She asked with concern.

Since Tsunade had given Naruto the mission, she had been so distracted. She didn't blame Tsunade though, even she felt depressed seeing the usually hyperactive ninja look so depressed. In fact, she found it hard to believe, that Naruto was even able to look that way, she never thought it was possible. He always cheered everyone up, now, she wondered sadly, who's going to cheer him up?

"Did you see the way he looked? I've never seen him that way. Maybe... maybe I shouldn't have told him about Jiraya's death straight away." Tsunade muttered sadly.

"Lady Tsunade? Remember, you once told me that Naruto was a strong boy, that he would be able to get through anything. You said me to believe in him, since he will be the future Hokage. Now - why do you doubt him?"

Tsunade, looked up from her private spot up at Shizune surprised, she was right, as always. She had to believe in Naruto...and Hinata. If anyone can bring Naruto back from his delusional mind, it was her.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING SHIZUNE? GET BACK TO WORK!!!" Tsunade shouted, gaining the new burst of confidence that she needed.

"Eeep! Yes Lady Tsunade, r-right away." Shizune said quickly. She bowed down and started scribbling on her clipboard quickly. She smiled secretly to herself, glad that she was able to help Tsunade.

**By the Villages gates**

Shikamaru stared up at the blue sky, muttering something about 'missions being troublesome'.Beside him Ino was leaning against the poles, waiting for Hinata and Naruto. She knew that Shikamaru was still troubled about Naruto's response this morning, but then so was she.

No one had seen Naruto this way, even when he was feeling the worst he never seemed this way, _well it wasn't as if I knew when he was feeling his worst really_, Ino thought, sighing. That knuckle headed ninja had grown on them, since the Chunnin exams three years ago.

She was worried about Hinata, as well. Whereas she didn't know about Naruto much, Hinata did. Everyone in the village except Naruto ( _dense idiot_ Ino thought angrily)knew about Hinata's massive crush on Naruto.

_Although it's as if her crush has evolved into something else_, Ino's train of thoughts grew, _when she looks at Naruto, she no longer has that childish gleam of a crush, its something strong, really strong_. Ino smiled at this thought, she knew what that was, even if Hinata denied it, it was obvious.

She looked up to see the maker of the soft running footsteps that came from her side. It was Hinata, she had gone slightly pink, from the exhaustion.

"S-sorry I'm l-late. Fa-father made m-me do some tr-training." Hinata bowed apologetically.

"Don't worry about it Hinata, its alright. We'll get moving as soon as Naruto arrives." Shikamaru said, trying to get her to come down. He wondered if Hinata realized that both he and Ino were her friends.

As if on cue, Naruto arrived by the corner. He walked slowly, without picking up his pace, his face till turned to the ground. Without looking at them, he stopped in front of them and said in a small voice,

"Let's go."

Shikamaru, took one look at Naruto, and then sighed again. With his signal, all four of them left the village, in a matter of seconds.

**At the Hokage's Office**

Tsunade had ignored her paperwork, and stood next to the window. She sighed softly, before turning her head, back to her room. She had just seen the four of them leave the village. Silently she prayed,

"Hinata, please help Naruto."


	5. Chapter 5 Hakagure

**Hi everybody! I've updated as soon as possible. Thanks for all the reviews, please keep them coming. **

**Right, first off, let me thank _SunsetRainbow_, thanks for the comment, I'll try my best. And thanks for adding my story in your favorites list.**

**Yo! Thanks for the brilliant comment _767inuyasha767_, I sort of like to mention everyone who reviewed my story, as well as those who add my story to their favorites list, as a way of thanking them. **

**So everyone who does either of the two, gets mentioned, he he!!! **

**Everyone please read and review. Honestly, your reviews really help! They encourage me to write a lot and to keep going. **

**Thanks everyone for reading my story. Please enjoy the next chapter. **

**Chapter 5 – Hakagure**

Branches bowed low, when four pairs of ninja feet flitted through the dense forest, using the branches of the trees as leverages. Three pairs of feet didn't exert much pressure, letting the branches flip back up. However one pair, exerted so much pressure, that the branches either broke off, or there were hard imprints of his feet on the branches.

Although, this did not break the rhythm of Naruto's speed. It's been an hour since he had left the village with his group. He hadn't spoken to any one so far, he had kept to himself and had his head bowed. The others kept glancing back at him. The silence had deepened, since everyone was afraid to voice their thoughts.

Finally, unable to control himself, Shikamaru snapped mentally. He sighed heavily, and stopped. Standing on the branch, he turned around, facing the others behind him. Ino and Hinata stopped facing him, behind them Naruto had also stopped, but kept his gaze averted.

"Naruto, you're giving me a headache. Why the hell are you so quiet? For once, I'm asking you to be loud." Shikamaru pleaded.

Naruto still didn't answer, in fact he steadily was ignoring everything around him. He seemed to be doing everything unconsciously. Hearing no reply from Naruto, Shikamaru sighed and continued,

"You're putting us all in danger. The way you're running. You're leaving a clear trail for our enemies to follow."

Ino seeing that Naruto still hadn't moved or even answered, turned bright red. A vein popped on the side of her head.

"Naruto, you idiot! Are you just going to stand there, say something for crying out loud! If-" She stopped when Shikamaru placed a restraining hand on her shoulder, he nodded to her, and then took off towards the clearing at the end of the forest.

Ino glared at Naruto once, and then followed Shikamaru towards the clearing. Followed by a somewhat hesitant Hinata.

As the three of them made some distance between them, Naruto looked up, his eyes were glazed. They were red as if he had been crying, or had been holding back tears. As if unconscious, without displaying any emotion, he followed them.

Hinata glanced back at Naruto several times, both Shikamaru and Ino had been steadily ignoring Naruto for the past hour, still angry about his lack of response. However Hinata couldn't help, but worry about Naruto.

**Flashback**

_The others had just left after Lady Tsunade had dismissed them. Hinata had remained behind, just as Tsunade had instructed her. Tsunade sat quietly for a few seconds, then leaned in front of her desk, both her hands coming up in front of her, clasping each other. Her elbows rested strongly on the surface of the desk._

_She sighed, making Hinata look up. Hinata tensed, wondering if she was in trouble or if the Hokage had heard about her father's plan about her marriage and was going to speak to her about it. _

_Her fingers were nervously trying to strangle each other at the moment, as they going around each other in loops, unable to find a resting place._

"_Hinata the reason I asked you here is to talk about..." Tsunade closed her eyes slightly, wondering if she should talk about him to Hinata. _

_If Sakura were here she would talked to her but since Sakura was on a different mission herself.........she couldn't ask the other boys, they couldn't do it, and Tenten didn't know him much, whereas Ino was too obnoxious. _

_Hinata was the only option. _

_Tsunade sighed again, she might not be able to do it though. She isn't known to be confident or that strong. In fact although Tsunade was ashamed to admit it, she felt that Hinata could possibly be one of the weakest kunoichi in the village._

_Meanwhile, Hinata was panicking about the fact that Tsunade was starting the same way her father did. So as you can imagine, she was quite surprised when,_

"_....about Naruto" Tsunade finished her sentence that she had started a few seconds ago._

"_N-naruto?" Hinata stuttered. She blushed, as his tan face appeared in her mind._

_Again Tsunade sighed. _

"_Yes. As you know Naruto has taken Jiraya's death quite badly. He... he isn't himself. He is quiet, moody, and he hasn't spoken to anyone for two weeks. He doesn't even come out to have ramen at Ichiraku's!! I'm worried about him. So..." Tsunade sighs, yet again._

"_I know that you can help Naruto. So I would like you to help him out and get him to be himself again do you understand?"_

"_Y-yes, Lady Tsunade. I-I'll do my b-best." Hinata could feel her face heating up. She couldn't believe that she would be given such a big responsibility. She had to try. She couldn't let Lady Tsunade down. _

_Most of all, she couldn't let Naruto down._

**End of Flashback **

Hinata had been so caught up in her thoughts, that she forgot to notice the branch in front of her. Her right foot got caught on the low branch, and she tripped.

She would have fallen, if Naruto hadn't caught her so quickly. Hinata turned to look at Naruto surprised. However, what she saw surprised her beyond all reason.

Naruto had not even turned to look at Hinata, in fact it looked as if he had rescued her based on pure reflex, not because he had to save his friend. His eyes were still glazed.

After he had set Hinata on the branch, without turning to look at her, he set off after Shikamaru towards the clearing.

Hinata remained behind, and stared after Naruto. She silently wondered if Naruto was even conscious at all. Sighing, she started running, building up more speed in order to catch up with others.

In a matter of seconds, they reached the end of the forest. Shikamaru turned to look at the other three, Ino stood patiently waiting for his instructions, Naruto kept his head bowed. And before he started worrying about Hinata, she landed softly on the branch beside Naruto.

Before Shikamaru could give out any instructions, he heard a warning signal. Before they could think twice, they were surrounded by five ordinary men. Shikamaru was beginning to make up a plan to take them down, when the apparent head of the group of men, stepped forward,

"I am Lord Shion, the Head of the Village Hakagure."


	6. Chapter 6 Lord Shion

**Hello everyoneeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!! I had two tests this week!!! I did my French test this morning, and I wrote this chapter as soon as I could, this morning. I feel so depressed (sort of), you guys could cheer me up by reviewing me. Pleassseee????**

**By the way, thanks _SunsetRainbow_ for the review, glad you like it. Please enjoy the next chapter, hope you like it too. And don't mention it, thanks for taking your time to review.**

**Yo, thanks _767inuyasha767_. Wow, I feel really good now. I wanted to know what people thought about my writing skill, and if they would like my stories. This fan fiction was a way to know. Thanks I'll make sure I write my own, plus I've sort of started but always felt a bit uncertain. Hope you like the next chapter.**

**Hai everyone, please read and enjoy. Please Review!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! **

**Chapter 6 – Lord Shion**

"I am Lord Shion, the Leader of the Village Hakagure."

Shikamaru relaxed when he heard this, beside him he felt Ino grip her kunai even strongly as she heard his name. Hinata was still tense, although she had deactivated her Byakugan at the leader's approach. Naruto meanwhile, still hadn't looked up, although his hands lingered by his weapons pouch.

"Hold on you guys. This is the man who asked for the mission." Shikamaru raised his hand and signalled the others to calm down and drop their guards.

Although, his look lingered on both Ino and Hinata, signalling them silently to keep a look out. Since Naruto wasn't looking up, he couldn't warn him, although by Naruto's gestures, he knew that he had no need to worry, since Naruto hadn't relaxed himself.

"I believe that you are the group of ninja from the Village hidden in the Leaves?" Lord Shion questioned, one elegant eyebrow raised.

"Yes sir. I'm Shikamaru Nara, and I'll be leading this group. This is Ino Yamanaka, Hinata Hyuuga and Naruto Uzumaki." Shikamaru gestured to each of the respectively.

Both Hinata and Ino nodded their heads as they were being introduced, while Naruto didn't move from his position. Shikamaru started analysing Lord Shion immediately. He was a tall man around forty. His jet black, shoulder length hair was g raying by the front of his head and in between his ears.

Shion slowly turned his head towards Shikamaru.

"Please, if you will be comfortable in this humble village of ours. Come, follow me. You will be staying in my house, during the mission. I will round up the other nine parents and talk to you in detail about the mission.

My servant, Kato, will lead you to my house. My wife will show you to your quarters. Please excuse me." Saying that, he bowed low, and then left, the rest of the men following him, except one.

The remaining man, Kato, was a young man around twenty. He stepped forward and bowed.

"I am Kato and I will lead you to Master Shion's house." He said without any expression.

He turned around, and walked towards the inner part of the village. Shikamaru looked at the others and then sighed.

"This is so troublesome."

With that he began to follow the servant Kato, towards the village. In about ten minutes they had reached the Shion's house. As the four, well three since Naruto still had his head done, looked at the house, one thought ran through their minds, this certainly was no house but a mansion.

Except Hinata had more thoughts_, It's nearly as big as the Hyuuga manor. I'm not sure I trust Lord Shion so much. But Shikamaru and the others haven't said anything yet, so I should probably drop it, but I'll still be on guard. Just in case_.

As they entered the house-mansion, as short plump woman, wearing a red kimono just little bit too tight for her came to greet them. Shikamaru glanced at Ino who had paled at the woman's appearance and at her horrific sense for fashion.

Shikamaru smiled slightly, and turned around to look at Hinata. He was surprised to see that Hinata still kept glancing at Naruto, both he and Ino and had stopped bothering about Naruto because they didn't know what else to do about Naruto.

He slapped himself mentally, of course Hinata would mind about Naruto, everyone in the village knows that Hinata has possibly got the biggest crush on Naruto, well everyone except Naruto himself. He still found it had how Hinata was able to be that patient, even Sakura had given up on Naruto after two weeks of ignorance.

"Hello children, I'm Lady Shifumi wife of Lord Shion, the leader of the village Hakagure. My husband asked me to give you a moments rest until discussing you mission with you. Although I would like you to find my daughter Sena as soon as possible." She smiled cheerily, beckoning the others to follow.

"Come I will show you to your room."

_What the hell? They just lost their daughter, and they want us to rest?! Not to mention, that they are seriously lacking the depressed look!_ Shikamaru thought suspiciously.

_Um, I don't understand what's going on but aren't they supposed to ask us to start the mission quickly if they want to find their daughter quickly?_ Hinata asked silently to herself.

_Woah, that lady seriously lacks fashion sense! Hey, why are both Shikamaru and Hinata frowning? What are they thinking?_ Ino thought to herself.

"Hmm, something fishy is going on. We can't afford to let our guards down." Shikamaru muttered quietly, so only the four of them could hear.


	7. Chapter 7 Suspicion

**Hi everyone, sorry about the delay. Unfortunately getting too busy these days. Well as usual I'm going to start by thanking a few people.**

**Yo, thanks _SunsetRainbow_ , love your comment. I hope you find this chapter interesting as well. And of course I haven't forgotten you _767inuyasha767_, thanks for the review, clearly you do pay attention while reading my story (huge smile!!!!), THANKS!!!! You guys are great, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter as well, please review me again. Your reviews really encourage me.**

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**Yay!!!! I feel so happy. Thank you everyone for reading, hope you enjoy this chapter and PLEASE review. **

**Over and out. **

**Chapter 7 – Suspicion**

Naruto sat at the back of the room, his back turned on the the others, facing the only waist length window in the room. He looked up at the quiet blue sky that imitated his cerulean blue eyes. He quickly looked down as conflicting images of his times with Jiraya came to life in his head.

Hinata was at the moment looking at Naruto sadly, she had never seen him this distraught. They had been waiting in the same room for about two hours now, and all the while Naruto kept repeating this routine of looking up and then down.

Shikamaru had gone to sleep about an hour ago, whereas Ino had sat by him, flicking through the magazine that she brought with her from the village. Hinata, not knowing what to do, had gone to her usual work of observing Naruto.

A surprised yelp, brought Hinata back from her observation and her gaze finally settled on the pair in front of her. When she realized what had happened, she stifled a giggle. Ino had whacked the sleeping Shikamaru on the head with her magazine.

Shikamaru had woken up from his sleep and was looking at Ino groggily.

"Look Shikamaru! Look at this page!" She pointed at a page, excitedly. Shikamaru muttered about it being troublesome, earning himself another whack on the head.

"Look what it says here! You too Hinata! Hurry!!" Hinata scrambled over to the other side and sat by Shikamaru. She leaned over to have a look at the page Ino was pointing. Although what she saw soon wiped the smile of her face.

Shikamaru felt Hinata stiffen beside him, and looked at her puzzled.

"Girls from all nations aged between 14 – 30 years of age will be traveling to the Fire Nation in order to meet the son of the Fire Country's Feudal Lord; Lord Kaien, aged20.

A ceremony will be held, in which the young lord will find his future wife among the thousands of women.

This woman will be crowned his wife the following month, and her clan and nation will rise to a higher status." Ino read from the page, excitement showing in her voice.

"What exactly am I supposed to notice, Ino?" Shikamaru asked annoyed.

"Idiot! I'm reading what could possibly be the most important article and all you can do is whine!" said Ino whacking him on the head again. "Look, don't you see? Any one of us girls could marry Lord Kaien!

He isn't looking for just any princess or anything, he's looking for a girl who could win his heart! Oh, I'm sure it's going to me..." Ino said dreamily, her hands clutching the magazine were on her chest and she was looking up at the ceiling with a dreamy look in her eyes.

"Ceremonies are troublesome, and so are girls. There are going to be thousands of girls from all over the nations, how can you be sure that you will be the one to win his heart. Besides you're only fifteen." Shikamaru yawned lazily.

"What did you say, you idiot? Of course I'll win his heart. I'm the prettiest girl at the village, and so what if I'm fifteen, I'm only five years younger than him. It's better to be younger than him, than older than him!" Ino said angrily, her face taking on a slight shade of pink.

"S-Shikamaru's right Ino. Think about it. W-would y-you r-really be happy to be m-married at the a-age of fifteen? A-and besides y-you w-would have to l-leave the village and s-stop b-being a n-ninja." Hinata stammered nervously, wondering what Ino's response would be.

Ino was about to retort when, there was a knock on the door, and the door slowly slid open. Lady Shifumi, came in cheerfully, although her ears were slightly red, as if in anger. No one noticed this of course, well except for Shikamaru.

"Alright children, I hope you've had you're rest. Lord Shion and the other parents are waiting in the main hall. Come follow me." She said and turned quickly.

Both Shikamaru and Hinata had noticed the strain in the woman's voice, as if she was trying very hard to be cheerful when in actual fact she was very angry. They got off the floor and walked towards the door. Naruto had already risen from his position on the floor and he followed the others closing the door behind him.

They entered the main hall, all of them tense, ready to expect anything. The main hall was huge, and right now it contained eight pairs of very distraught parents, most of the mothers were crying, only two remained still although their eyes were red with weeping day and night for their kidnapped daughters.

The only parents who had odd emotions on their faces were of course, Lord Shion and his wife Lady Shifumi.

"Ahem, alright since everyone is present here, lets explain these ninja from the Village Hidden in the Leaves about their mission." Lord Shion said in a loud steady voice that made everyone look up.

"Them? But they are only children! How can you expect them to find anyone, you can't be serious, do our daughters mean nothing to you, Lord Shion?" A woman cried out hysterically, several others murmured and nodded their heads in approval.

Lord Shion did not reply, he bowed his head, as if ashamed at the Hidden Village's response to his request. Silence hung in the air like a deadly disease.

Shikamaru, Ino and Hinata turned to look at Naruto surprised; usually by now he would have made a lot of ruckus just for calling them children, however right now he had his head bowed, refusing to meet the surprised gazes of his team mates.

Finally, thinking that Naruto was now officially a hopeless case, Shikamaru turned towards the others, and explained in an exasperated voice,

"Mam, please we would like you to calm down. We might be 'just children' to you however we are fully fledged ninja. We are all of the Chunnin status, it is the third highest state after Hokage."

"Yeah, exactly. We have successfully passed several B ranked missions." Ino said, her eyes flaring with mixed anger.

"Yes, i-it will not make any difference what so ever, if you had adult ninjas in this mission, be-because you will still be sent only chunnin ranked or even gennin ranked ninjas, as this is only a C - ranked mission." Hinata said shyly, her cheeks coloring slightly as she felt everyone's eyes settling on her.

_Wow, she actually didn't stutter! Well not so much anyway. I guess this is a bit like her being the Hyuuga heiress anyway, she has to explain things. Although I wonder why she does stutter though, if it is so easy for her not to stutter._

Ino and Shikamaru shared their thoughts. This is probably the second time the young Hyuuga heiress had managed to surprise them. The last time was three years ago when she had shown them her new jutsu: Protective Palms.

"Alright, its probably time that we explained your mission. This is the basic story; there have been a few rogue ninjas who have been sighted, we believe that they are behind the kidnappings.

We believe that they are kidnapping our daughters, because as you all know, my daughter will be traveling to the center of the fire country.

She will probably be of interest to the young Lord, as she is very beautiful. These rogue ninjas have probably taken this time to kidnap our daughters for money.

Now what we would like you to do is to find our nine daughters and return them to us safely. That will be all. Thank you. You may leave, also the deadline is in two days time."

With that the meeting was over, and all the parents stood to go to their respective houses. A few of the women silently glaring at the four teen ninjas, as if they were definitely not capable of rescuing their daughters.

After everyone had left, the four of the stood silently in the vast hall. Naruto's depression was getting to both Ino and Shikamaru, after the woman's outburst, Shikamaru seemed to doubt himself, so did Ino. Hinata looked at both of them,

"Sh-Shikamaru, don't you think that we should think of a plan? D-don't worry I'm sure you'll come up with something. We will trust you no matter what, right Ino?" Hinata asked breaking the ice. Ino looked up and smiled at Hinata.

"Yep, so get off your lazy backside and come put that brain into action, Shikamaru!" Ino whacked Shikamaru on the head playfully.

Shikamaru looked up and suddenly seemed to go back to his normal self. He nodded and turned to walk out of the hall. The others followed. As they left the hall, Hinata silently wondered,

_I seem to be able to help the others, if only I could help you Naruto._


	8. Chapter 8 The Plan

**Hai everyone!!!! I'm back so soon.**

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**Hope you guys enjoy this chapter. Thanks for taking your time to review me, and if you can I would really appreciate it if you could keep reviewing me. Hope I'm not asking too much.**

**And so I would like to dedicate this story to both **_767inuyasha767_** and **_SunsetRainbow_**, cause these guys are great and have kept reviewing me for a loooooooooooooooong time. Yaaaaaayyyyy!!!!!**

**Chapter 8 – The Plan**

Shikamaru leaned on the sliding wooden doors, pressing his ear on to them to listen hard. He had a feeling that there were spies here, and earlier while they were talking, he had an idea that Lady Shifumi was eavesdropping on them.

If his suspicions were proved right, then he knew exactly what was going on, and this mission would be wrapped up quick.

Happy that there was no one outside, he moved into the middle of the room where the others were waiting for him sitting around in a small circle. Ino and Hinata looked at him expectantly. Shaking his head slightly, he sat next to them.

He placed a clean sheet of plain paper in the middle and a pen on top of it. Putting his finger to his lips, he silenced the others before they asked any question, he continued,

"Since we've been briefed about the mission already, I think its about time we came up with a plan. Anyone got any ideas?" Before either Ino or Hinata could reply, he quickly raised his hand, his palm facing them.

He took the pen and wrote down quickly;

_Don't speak. I'm not sure but I think I know what's going on. I will write our original plan on this sheet, but I will make up a fake one, to ward off the spies. _

"Okay, here's the plan. I think that we should probably go around the village, searching for clue that will probably lead us to the missing girls or even better to the rogue ninjas."

_Both Ino and Hinata will play important roles in this mission. I will give both of you a tiny device, which you should have on you at all times, this will help both me and Naruto track you down wherever you are. _

_If my theories are correct both of you will be kidnapped by tonight. _

"Right, is there anything else that you would like to say?"

While saying this Shikamaru slowly slipped two little black earplugs towards Ino and Hinata. They took them and quickly placed it into their pockets.

"N-No, b-but Shikamaru since we h-have to go around the v-village, c-can we do a bit of sh-shopping p-please. I think that we may n-need to buy a few dresses when we go to meet Lo-Lord Kaien." Hinata stuttered quietly, holding her gaze with Shikamaru.

Shikamaru understood, and smiled to himself.

"Of course. Otherwise Ino would probably start yelling something troublesome. Besides telling you what to do is too troublesome, so as along as you do your job, I don't care." At this Ino shrieked hystericaly. She jumped over and hugged Hinata tightly.

"Wow, Hinata! I didn't know you liked to go shopping!!! We're going to have so much fun!" Ino shrieked. Shikamaru nearly laughed out loud at Hinata's pained expression.

_Well, who knew but looks like the shy little Hyuuga heiress is cleverer than she seems. She's figured out my theory. _

_Hmm this is too troublesome but I guess we should really pay some attention to Hinata even if she is too quite. _

_Otherwise, we might regret it later._

Shikamaru thought quietly, he had been thinking about this since the time he noticed that even Hinata was paying close attention to a lot of things, just like him. He also had to congratulate her as she knew exactly how to get Ino off coarse, at the same time putting their plan into action.

"Ino come lets go. I-I think we should use all the time that we have." Hinata said shyly to Ino.

"Right, I totally agree. C'mon lets go." Ino nodded seriously. With that both of them stood up and left the room and the mansion.

While walking by the pavement to the shops, Hinata felt eyes watching her, she had to fight hard to resist the urge to use her byakugan. She bit her lip hard, trying to concentrate on the mission because right now her mind was jumbled.

Apart from this C-ranked mission, she also had to complete the secret mission that Lady Tsunade had given, and she really wanted to help Naruto who had helped her countless times and on top of that she also had to think about her father's plan for her marriage.

"Hai Hinata? Are you okay? You seem to be troubled. You haven't talked much, well less than usual anyway." Ino inquired gently.

Hinata was about to reply falsely that nothing was wrong, when a large clammy hand clapped over her mouth, and the world went dark in front of her white eyes.


	9. Chapter 9 Sena

**Hey everyone!! Well next chapter's up. All right I'd like to clear a few things.**

**First off thanks _SunsetRainbow_ for the review. Please keep reading and reviewing, lol.**

**Thanks 767inuyasha767, I wasn't meaning to mean 'yes' in Japanese but 'hey' in English. He he. Sorry, 'bout that. Thanks for reading, enjoy the next chapter.**

**And _NiebieskiLis_, yeah well imagine you were alone for a long time and you have finally have someone really close to you, you would be brooding for a very long time. Also Shikamaru and the others have been trying to help Naruto for over two weeks, besides they don't completely stop trying as you will see. Anyway thanks for the review, hope you enkoy the next chapter.**

**Thanks _MinnieMouse8990_ for the review. Personally I doubt Hinata would do something like that, she is just waaaaaaaaaaay too shy!! ^_^**

**And...thanks..._SinShu_...for...the...review...hope...you...enjoy...the...next...chapter...bye...he...he...!**

**Hope everyone enjoys this chapter and please REVIEW!!!!**

**Chapter 9 – Sena**

Wet hair tickled Ino's neck, she groaned, thinking that she was at home on her bed on a very hot day. As she moved her arm, a sharp pain on her wrist brought her memories of last night and the night before flooding back.

She grimaced as she remembered how she had been caught unawares. Even if their plan was to get kidnapped she didn't imagine that it would be this painful. She silently cursed Shikamaru in her head,

If he thought hard enough, he could have come up with some other better plan. If my face is bruised in the slightest, I'm going to kill him. Damn you Shikamaru!!

Remembering Hinata, Ino jerked up straight straining her tightly tied wrists more, causing her to wince in pain. She slowly squinted her eyes open. There was still a faint smell of chloroform around her nose and mouth.

She blinked several times, to clear her blurry vision. She turned towards the movement by her left. It was Hinata. Her long ink-blue hair was hanging over her face. Her face was paler than usual. She smiled weakly as her gaze met Ino's.

"Good both of you are awake." A drawling, female voice said. They turned towards this voice, and sitting in front of them was a girl a couple of years older than them. She had shoulder length jet black hair, a tan heart shaped face, and green eyes.

All in all she was quite an attractive person; Ino looked at her jealous that she was probably better looking than Ino.

_Well, I would probably look better than her if I wore as much make up as her. Luckily for her as kuniochi we are only allowed to have light make up on. Humph, I could be prettier than her if I really wanted to. _

"Don't know why they dragged you two in, well I guess you're understandable but she ain't much of a looker is she?" The girl nodded towards Hinata, who blushed with embarrassment. Ino by now was very annoyed, not only was this girl very arrogant, she said Hinata wasn't good looking.

"Who the hell are you? Don't you dare say that Hinata isn't much of a looker, just because she doesn't care about her looks as much as you. She is a better person than you by a bigger count." Ino glared at the girl angrily.

Hinata looked up at Ino, smiling gratefully, although Ino was too busy to notice that. Her pale face took on a pink hue, getting darker and darker with everyone comment the strange girl made.

"Whatever. Couldn't care less. For your first question, I'm Sena, the beautiful daughter of the Village leader Lord Shion." The girl, Sena, smirked at Ino. Obviously taking pleasure at Ino's annoyance.

"Clearly, I've got more status, more brain and better looks, than you ever could, as a ninja!" Ino's face went so dark, and her eyes glowed so bright, she would have put the Devil to shame.

Hinata winced, not of the pain but because of Sena's stupidity. You could say anything that you want, but insulting Ino of her looks, that's one thing you will be regretting for the rest of your lives.

"What the hell did you say?! More status?! More brain?!And better looks?! Like hell?!

Maybe I should explain a bit more about myself, I'm from the Yamanaka clan, we are a well-known clan, and if I wanted to right now I could scramble that so called brain of yours like eggs!

Pff! Better looks, yeah right! Anyone can dab make up on their face like that and look as pretty as you. I bet that even a tramp from the streets could look better than you!!"

Ino shouted, she had somehow managed to scramble up to her feet, during the speech, even if her feet were tied.

Even the cool Sena, had gotten up on her feet, and had gone red with anger, at the last insult.

Clearly both took insults to their looks with great anger. Hinata, looked back and forth between the two girls, and prayed silently in her head,

_Shikamaru please hurry. I think Ino might end up killing the girl we are supposed to save._

**Lord Shion's Mansion**

Shikamaru took out the jar of insects. Tiny black little fly like things, hard to notice, unless they were in a swarm like right now. It had been about ten hours since both Ino and Hinata had left. About two hours ago, Kato came in to explain that both Ino and Hinata have been kidnapped as well.

Shikamaru looked at Naruto, Naruto just kept looking down, tugging at his jacket. Shikamaru sighed, usually Naruto would have made a ruckus, shouting that they had to go and save the girls straight away. However right now, its as if he had forgotten or just that he didn't care, he just kept quiet.

"Since you're not asking me, I'll still explain this to you. Even if it is too troublesome.

All right before I left, Shino gave me two things, he said it might help, since we might be tracking rogue ninjas;

two tiny containers shaped like earplugs, and a jar of hound insects, called this way obviously because they like dogs can track scents, well sort off.

Yesterday, at night, I took a hair from both Ino and Hinata, cut them in half and placed one half of both hairs separately into each of the containers, and placed the other half in this jar as you can see.

Now when I release these insects, they will track down Ino and Hinata's scents, leading us straight to them."

He looked over at Naruto, although he had decided that Naruto was a hopeless case, and there was no way to save him unless he got out of it himself, Shikamaru couldn't help but try to save him, it was usually Naruto who tried to cheer him up not the other way around.

He was hoping that Naruto would probably break out of his depression if he got interested into something, for example saving Sasuke. It was unusual for Naruto to be in depression for this long; the Sannin must have meant a great deal for him to be acting this way.

"I'll just imagine that you asked me if we could use these bugs to trace Sasuke."

Shikamaru could have sworn that Naruto's ears had perked up a little at this. He smiled to himself, maybe there was some hope after all.

"And the answer is no. These bugs unlike the Bikochou beetle don't exactly trace the scent of the person, because they like Shino's bugs feed off chakra. These bugs can trace a person's chakra with just a piece of their hair.

Shino explained that this is because everyone has a particular pattern to their chakra, although the bugs could get confused if there were two Hyuugas in one place or two Yamanakas in one place. Luckily for us, there are only one of each in this case."

Shikamaru stopped, looking at Naruto expectantly. He wasn't sure exactly what he was expecting from Naruto, but he was hoping that Naruto reacted in any way.

"Right then we should go." Naruto grunted.

Shikamaru raised one eyebrow. There was definitely some hope.

**Elsewhere**

"Humph, some ninja you are, blondie! You got yourself kidnapped! The Yamanaka clan must be some down trodden clan, to have someone like you in it!" Sena insulted harshly, her bright green eyes flashing like a feral cat, her fists clenched by her side.

"What did you say you arrogant pig?! First off, I let myself get kidnapped, it was part of the pl—" Ino was cut off quickly by Hinata, who had crept up behind her and clamped her mouth shut.

"It was part of what?" Sena asked darkly. Her eyes flicking between both Ino and Hinata suspiciously. "What's going on?"

"N-Nothing Sena. We were planning to a-ask around the village, and search for some cl-clues, that could lead us to you. I g-guess you could count this as a c-clue, I h-hope Shikamaru a-and N-Naruto can find us soon." Hinata said nervously, hoping that Sena didn't catch her out.

Luckily for her Sena didn't.

"Humph, there is just no way that idiot ninja friends of yours will be able to find us." She smiled darkly. "After all, this was planned."

"What?! What do you mean planned? Are you saying that the entire village planned this kidnapping and sent us on a wild goose chase?!" Ino shrieked, getting more flustered as the seconds passed.

"Pff! No way! The villagers are brainless idiots who don't have the mental capability to understand their place. We planned this along with the 'rogue' ninjas of course. Not that I would expect you to understand." Sena said and turned to walk off the the room.

_You were right Shikamaru. I hope we can get out of this safely._ Hinata thought silently.

**The forest**

A straight line of tiny little black bugs were flying towards a dark cave, hidden under the bushes in the forest at the edge of the village of Hakagure.

Following this trail of bugs were two ninjas. Shikamaru and Naruto were making a fast pace towards the girls.

"There Shikamaru." Naruto slowly pointed at the cave. Naruto was slowly beginning to loosen up, but he had grown so distant, he wasn't the same Naruto any more.

_Where there is a will, there is a way._ Shikamaru thought smiling.


	10. Chapter 10 Rogue Ninjas

**Hey everyone!! Sorry I'm late. :( I've been soooooooooo busy. Howver I wrote this extra large chapter and a one shot for you guys. Sorrrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

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**Rogue Ninjas **

Naruto stepped lightly on the turf, careful not to disturb anything. He didn't want to let anyone else precious to him to die. He forced back thoughts on Jiraya, afraid that if he started thinking about Jiraya, he would again be too depressed to respond or concentrate in this mission.

Shikamaru glanced at Naruto, he smiled lightly. He understood what Naruto was going through, although not to the full extent; he had not been alone for most of his life. He himself had been depressed for a few days following Asuma's death; he had felt at peace after he had killed both the members of Akatsuki who killed his Jounin Sensei.

Naruto seemed to be concentrating on the mission, although he never looked Shikamaru in the eye, he did glance up once in a while to check his surroundings. However, anyone close to him like Shikamaru and the other rookies could tell that this was not the Naruto that they knew.

The Naruto they knew would not be so quiet, or attentive. He was not called the Number 1 Hyperactive Ninja for nothing. As well as that, Naruto didn't look anyone in the eye; he kept looking down as if he was too ashamed of himself, although for what no one knew.

A snap of a twig, turned both Shikamaru and Naruto's head to the right. They slowly moved back, blending into the shadows. Through the woods came Kato. Naruto frowned slightly. Shikamaru crouched, getting ready.

_Looks like my assumptions were right. Man, this is such a drag; we had to be sent on a wild goose chase._

"Naruto, careful. We're not going to attack now. Remember the plan?" Shikamaru whispered lightly to Naruto. Naruto nodded once in response. He remembered the plan, and the explanation. He didn't understand the reason but he knew he didn't want to drag out this mission any longer.

Kato walked into the cave, he stopped by the entrance and stiffened as if aware of their presence, seeing no one he walked into the cave. Quietly both Shikamaru and Naruto followed, keeping a good distance behind him, careful not to alarm him.

The tunnel went deeper and deeper into the forest, it started slopping underground. After about 20 minutes, which seemed like an eternity for the teen ninjas underground, they reached a door. They stepped back quickly as Kato turned to look behind him. Noticing no one he opened the sturdy wooden door, and let it shut behind him.

"Shadow possession jutsu!" Shikamaru whispered quickly, to hold the door open, so that both Naruto and he can leave the cave. They ran quickly, and went through the door.

The walls on the other side of the door were all familiar to them, too familiar.

**Elsewhere**

Ino slumped back to the floor. Her previously frustrated red face, had gone to a frustrated pink face. Hinata looked wearily at Ino, it had been more than 3 hours since Sena left. They had received no food or drink, and they were exhausted.

"She said 'plan', did you hear that Hinata? She said 'plan', that this was all part of her 'plan'." Ino turned to look at Hinata angrily.

"I-Ino, I-I think that you sh-should calm down. Shikamaru wo-would have thought of this already. A-And I-I'm sure that both Na-Naruto and Shikamaru are on their way to rescue us." Hinata stammered, trying to get Ino to calm down.

"I guess you're right. Sorry Hinata, I'm just worried about Shikamaru, he was feeling a little down the last time." Ino sighed. She smiled at Hinata and continued, "And clearly, you still have feelings for Naruto, right? Don't know why you bother with him though, how many years has it been and he still hasn't noticed you yet."

"I-It doesn't matter if he do-doesn't understand my feelings. I ca-care for him, and as long as he is ha-happy, I'm happy." Hinata said sadly, because right now Naruto definitely was not happy.

Ino looked at Hinata a little confused but at the same time strangely proud that one of her friends could be so kind. She was about to say something when the door banged open. Sena stood in the doorway, with someone behind her. Neither of the girls could make out the shadowed outline of the person behind Sena, however it was sort of familiar.

"Well, since I think that we have no need of you and since you are really no threat to me, you'll be seen to quickly." Sena smiled darkly, she turned around and left the room. The shadow figure behind her stepped forward, as the light fell on him, the girls gasped in surprise.

"Sorry girls, but you're in the wrong place at the wrong time." Kato said, in full ninja gear and stepped forward a kunai in hand.

"What on earth?! You're a ninja?!" Ino screamed at Kato still surprised.

"Of course," he tapped his forehead protector which had the symbol of the Village hidden in Rocks, with a slash going across it. "I'm a rogue ninja from the Village hidden in the Rocks. Hmm, the Village never was in peace with Village hidden in the leaves, I guess this could be taken as a sort of revenge."

Ino glared at him with such power, it would have put Medusa to shame.

_Damn this, if my hands were free, I could use my mind possession jutsu, and escape this place with Hinata. Poor Hinata I bet she's terrified; I've got to help her._ Ino thought fiercely.

_Hmm, we didn't plan this but we've got to delay for time. If I'm right then Shikamaru and Naruto would be here in a few minutes, but until then.... I've got to use jyuuken and get rid of these ropes first. Then we can challenge Kato until Shikamaru and Naruto arrive._ Hinata thought calculating her possibilities.

She slowly, turned her hands so that the tips of her fingers were facing the rope, which bound her wrists together. Silently in her head she shouted _jyuuken!_ And pale blue chakra erupted from her fingers sharply and cut through the ropes.

Kato was about to move when....

"Shadow possession jutsu, successful" A lazy familiar voice sounded behind him, and he found himself unable to move.

_Hell yeah! That's my team mate. _Ino screamed gleefully in her head, although she would never voice this out loud.

Naruto moved so quickly across the room that all you could see was a blur of yellow, Shikamaru frowned, that blur reminded him of something but he couldn't quite place it. Kato stopped trying to free himself, as he felt the sharp edge of Naruto's kunai on his neck. He could literally feel that Naruto was not in the mood to think twice about his 'accidental' movements.

"Took you long enough! Damn it Shikamaru, I could've died. Hurry up and free me would you!" Ino shouted at Shikamaru, Shikamaru obviously realised that she wasn't really angry and merely smiled. He was about to move when he saw that Ino had already been released.

Ino felt the ropes binding her wrists together loosen, when she tried to bring her hands to the front they easily did. She didn't get it, Shikamaru was at the front, then who...

Hinata was standing beside Ino, a kunai in hand. She put out a hand, offering Ino help to get up. Ino looked at her surprised.

"When did you get out? You were bound just as tightly as I was, right?" Ino asked surprised that the shy girl had escaped before she did.

"I used jyuuken to c-cut through the ropes while Ka-Kato tried to attack us. I cut your ropes while you were t-talking to Sh-Shikamaru." Hinata stammered shyly looking down.

_I didn't know that she was that good at stealth, good enough that I couldn't notice her. Wow, she manages to surprise me every time I go on a mission with her._ Ino thought silently.

Shikamaru seemed to have the same thought, he raised one thin dark eyebrow in question. He was surprised as much as Ino, even though he had sort of had an idea that Hinata was probably better than she was letting on.

"So? What's going on? I know you've figured it out already so don't bother lying." Ino said glaring at Shikamaru. Shikamaru smiled that Ino was angry because she wasn't let in on the whole plan, because they were after all close friends, she had the right to know.

"Sorry Ino, I couldn't explain earlier because it was too risky. But I'll explain now.

You see, the leader of this village and his family are going lets say bankrupt. In order to keep their control, and to gain wealth they decided to get Sena married to the son of the Fire Country's feudal lord, Lord Kaien.

However there were a few flaws, there were some families in the village who also wanted their daughters to get married to Lord Kaien, obviously Lord Shion couldn't have that, could he? So he arranged for the kidnapping of these nine girls and the fake kidnapping of his daughter.

A mission was requested in order to make this as real as possible and so that Lord Shion won't loose face in front of the other villagers. Of course according to him, it was an advantage, when he saw that we were 'just' children.

He didn't count on two girls though; especially when one pretty one wanted to marry Lord Kaien. The other one wasn't much of a threat, but again to keep the false idea of the rogue ninjas strong, he had to have you both kidnapped.

Well all this for one simple thing clearly was very troublesome, but I'm right. Right Kato?" Shikamaru asked lazily.

"Right." Kato grimaced, tensing. He was thinking of ways to escape, he didn't think that kids their age from the Leaf Village would be able to hold him in place like this,

Guess the rumours were true. Damn it! What type of training in hell do these ninjas go through in the Leaf Village to make kids their age this strong, especially this one? Kato thought angrily.

**Corridors**

"Why does this place look so familiar?" Ino asked walking next to Shikamaru. Naruto still had his kunai on Kato's neck and was leading them at the front. Hinata was next to Naruto using her Byakugan to check if any enemies were about.

Shikamaru sighed. "Ino you're so troublesome, haven't you figured it out yet that you are in Shion's mansion. We're at the back end of the house. The cave in the forest is really an underground tunnel leading to Lord Shion's house. Of course no one in the village would even imagine that their village leader had their daughters here in his house."

Ino had been listening intently, and then out of the blue she whacked Shikamaru on the head.

"What the hell was that for, Ino?!" Shikamaru yelped.

"For calling me troublesome." Ino replied simply, smiling a little. Shikamaru quietly mumbled something about women being troublesome, and slowly massaged his bump on the head.

Kato grinded his teeth, as they neared another room.

"In there," he said, anger edging his voice. "All eight girls are in there."

Shikamaru looked at Hinata, nodding she looked through the wooden door using her kekkai genkai, also known as blood line limit. Disabling her byakugan, she turned back to look at Shikamaru and nodded again.

Shikamaru looked at Ino, she nodded her head slightly, in answer to his unvoiced question. They moved quickly to the front and stood on either sides of the wooden door. Shikamaru ready to use his shadow jutsus and Ino had a kunai by her hand, ready to slit anyone's throat who came in her way.

On the count of three, they burst in through the door, only to startle a few of the sleeping girls. They looked up alarmed. Most of the girls were very young, only aged between 12 – 14, a couple were aged between 15 – 17, like them.

"Who the hell are you?" A girl of about seventeen asked. She had shoulder length red hair, and bright green eyes.

Both Ino and Shikamaru surveyed their surroundings to check if there were any cameras, or microphones, or even enemy ninjas hiding. There seemed to be nothing.

Satisfied they relaxed. Ino put her kunai back in her weapons holster. Shikamaru put his hands by his side, stood up and yawned. Ino looked at him and thwacked him on the head. The other girls frowned at their behaviour.

Ino turned to look at them and explained;

"We're the ninjas of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Our mission was to find you, of course. I'm Ino Yamanaka, this is Shikamaru Nara, that blond one is Naruto Uzumaki and the Girl next to him is Hinata Hyuuga."

"I'm Aiko. I like the other girls have been kidnapped by the rogue ninjas. We don't understand what's going on, but if you're here to help us, and then I'd assume that our parents had asked help from the ninja village." Aiko said.

"You're right, we are here to rescue you. We will take you back to your family right now. Ino, Hinata. I want you both to escort these girls back to the village." Shikamaru turned towards Ino and Hinata and said. He slowly mouthed, _Don't say them the truth about the Shion and Sena_.

They nodded, and Hinata said,

"Byakugan!" The veins by the sides of her eyes were now visible. Her eyesight had sharpened by a thousand times. Several of the girls gasped, this being the first time they saw anything like this. Hinata turned to the back and waited patiently for a minute.

Satisfied that the area was clear, she disables her byakugan, and turned her head to Ino and said,

"All clear. We c-can go now, Ino."

Ino gestured to the other girls and they all moved towards her, and formed a set of group with Aiko in the front, after all she did seem to be one of the oldest. Ino and Hinata quickly took out a kunai from their weapons holster, ready to attack when needed.

Hinata activated her byakugan, ready to move. Without further ado they ran out of the room. Pausing at very turning. After Hinata makes sure that there are no enemies waiting for them they run faster, anxiously waiting for the exit.

They seemed to find no resistance, Hinata and Ino frowned, they turned to look at each other confused. Not wanting to run out of luck, they ran out of the cave in the forest with the other girls, and went straight to the village.

They saw to it that the girls went to their respective families. They were again a little confused to notice that Shikamaru and Naruto still hadn't returned and that Lord Shion the leader of the village was missing.


	11. Chapter 11 Return

**Hey you guys!! Sorry about that, long time. Well I've written the next chapter, hope you still like it. Right as usual, let me proclaim my gratitude.**

**Thanks _MinnieMouse8990_ for the review, please keep reading and reviewing at the same time. Right well, I didn't give Hinata much fighting time yet, there will be time. Naruto will probably have a breakthrough in another few chapters, we'll have to wait and see.**

**Thanks _SunsetRainbow_ for the review. I love the encouragement. ^_^**

**Hey _767inuyasha767_ thanks for the review, and man I thought you didn't like the last chapter. Glad you're still reading. Hope you like this one, and don't scare me like that!! lol! ^_^**

**Hey _HellsingOtaku_ thanks for reading my story, and glad you like it, hope you like this chapter as well, and hope you review. By the way, guessing by your pen name I would say that you also like _Hellsing_, but is this the manga or movie? And if manga would you recommend me to watch the anime or not? **

**Right let me thank these wonderful people for adding my story in their favourites: _HellsingOtaku_, _Deadly Desire. NHx3_, _hayley101_ and _Sam King_. Hope you guys like this chapter and if you can please leave a review.**

**Thank you everyone, sorry for the huge introduction. ^_^!!!**

**Chapter 11 - Return**

Ino bit her lip as she and Hinata waited by the village council. The whole village had gathered together and there were tears as daughters reunited with their parents.

Numerous villagers had gone up to them and thanked them for their help, a few apologising for underestimating them.

The girls had politely smiled at everyone, however as the minutes passed they were getting increasingly worried.

As they surveyed the crowd at the village council, Hinata's keen eye noticed that Lord Shion the village leader was missing. She pointed it out to Ino and they started panicking. They looked around quickly searching for both Shikamaru and Naruto, but they weren't there.

**Meanwhile back at Shion's house**

Shikamaru nodded at Naruto signalling him to follow. They moved through the long corridors searching for Shion and his family. They turned a corner and came to a large hall, at the back of the house.

They were about to move forward when Shion stepped out of the shadows, the rogue ninjas behind him. All of a sudden the ninjas started to move, and a fight commenced.

Naruto had to let go of Kato as three ninjas came at him from all sides. Shikamaru started fighting using his shot dagger that he had behind him. He wasn't especially good at taijutsu however this attack came as a surprise, and he needed a few minutes to think of a plan.

He gasped as he formulated an excellent idea in his head, just then a ninja came behind ready to slit his throat using a kunai. Before he could react, Naruto was in front of him, his right hand holding a rasengan.

As the ninja blasted off behind him, Shikamaru told Naruto the plan and they started to work. It was simple really, Shikamaru would use his Shadow neck bind jutsu on Shion, Naruto would guard him, so as to give him an opportunity to use the jutsu.

They set to it, Naruto was by Shikamaru warding off all the attacks, seeing an opening Shikamaru squatted low to get a good position and used his jutsu on Shion. Shion unfortunately could do nothing but watch the shadow hands closing in on his neck.

Naruto was fighting the ninjas by his right, Shikamaru smiled noticing that his plan was working, when he noticed that Kato was coming at him from the left. Shikamaru swore under his breath, he noticed too late, Naruto was busy fighting, and now he was unable to to move.

He closed his eyes as Kato rose his hand to stab him. He heard the sound of a kunai knife meeting the flesh, although he felt no pain. He felt something warm on his face, and realised that it was blood.

As he opened his eyes, he was surprised to see that it was not he who was hurt but Hinata, Kato had stabbed her on her left upper arm.

"Hi-Hinata?! What are you doing here?! Are you okay?" Shikamaru asked, realising that it was to save him that Hinata just risked her life.

"HINATA?!" Shikamaru winced as Ino screamed. Ino came running, kicking Kato in the face sending him flying to the nearest shelf, as he knocked himself out. "Hinata! Are you okay?! What were you thinking, you could've died?!"

"W-well I-I had to do so-something or Sh-Shikamaru would have gotten hurt. I-I had no t-time to think." Hinata explained meekly, wincing slightly in pain as Ino lifted her arm to examine it.

Shikamaru concentrated on his work, and had Shion pinned. Naruto had knocked the rest of the ninjas unconscious.

"Ple-Please w-wait!" Shion shouted, fear clearly showing in his face. "I-I won't do this again! I-I pro-promise!"

"We will leave you now, and we will inform our Hokage about this incident, see to it that this doesn't happen again, otherwise our village will personally take care of this problem once and for all. Do you understand?" Shikamaru asked, authority showing in his voice.

"Y-Yes, y-yes I un-understand. Pl-Please leave me." Shion begged, Shikamaru disabled his jutsu disgusted at the man's cowardly behaviour.

The four ninjas turned around leaving the man behind, as they were about to leave the room, Ino turned around and said,

"And tell that bratty, daughter of yours to watch it, looks like my clan is a lot better than her house, hah!"

**An hour later in the woods outside of the village**

"Well that mission was a drag. It was just a fake mission to make sound as an alibi for that old coward." Shikamaru said lazily.

Ino looked at him sideways and smiled. Hinata looked at Naruto her eyes filled with pain, not because of the wound in her arm, but the wound in her heart that she was not able to help Naruto after all.

The four of them landed lightly on the ground, and started running towards the village. They greeted the guards at the front by the gate, and went straight to the the Hokage tower. After explaining the truth behind the mission, they started to walk back to their respective homes.

Naruto had left them without a word, and Tsunade looked at Hinata disappointed, but not as much as if she was expecting for this to happen. Ino, Shikamaru and Hinata walked back together after getting Hinata's arm treated.

As they walked back to their houses, they were met by Neji and the Hyuugan leader Hiashi. Hinata bowed her head, as Neji looked at her with pity, whereas her father looked at her with disappointment. Without saying a word, he turned round and left Hinata behind again.

Unnoticed by them a young man aged 20 was watching the whole encounter. He had short dark hair with fringes separated on either side of his heads, and melting chocolate brown eyes. He was the kind that many women swooned at the sight.

He looked at the plain girl at the centre between the pretty blonde and the lazy brunette. He smiled as he saw that she was the kind who would easily get pushed around by everyone. After her father had left he approached them.

He was slightly surprised to see that her hidden arm was injured, and was bandaged. He didn't think that she was capable of fighting. He came in front of them and introduced himself.

"Hi, I'm Kai. And may have the pleasure of knowing who you beauties are?"

"Of course! I'm Ino Yamanaka, this is Hinata Hyuuga and that there lazy bum is Shikamaru Nara." Ino swooned.

"Ah, yes. I've heard of you Shikamaru nice meeting you. And I've also heard that you Ms. Yamanaka are probably the most beautiful girl in this village, along with another girl. I think she was called Sakura Haruno?" He said, smiling.

"Yeah, forehead girl." She was about to say more when her father came down the road, along with Shikamaru's father.

"Oi, you two! You're needed." Her father shouted. Ino sighed, and said her goodbyes, and dragged Shikamaru towards her father.

As they turned away from view, Kai turned around to notice that the shy girl in front of him hadn't moved at all.

"Hey, you okay?" He waved his hand in front of her face.

Hinata looked up, and apologised. She had been so caught up in her thoughts she barely noticed anything taking place around her.

"Ah, well, looks like you're injured. Here I'll help you get home in one piece." Kai said looking at Hinata. She quickly looked down and mumbled that there was no need.

"Hey, it's no problem! You know what, we can compromise, I'll take you home today, and you can show me around the village tomorrow, since you're injured and it's already getting dark."

Hinata began to protest, but Kai had already started walking and Hinata had to run to catch up. She didn't know who he was, or why he was showing any interest in her right now.


	12. Chapter 12 Kai

**Hey everyone!!! I'm back after quite a long time. Right here's the new chapter. Hope you enjoy it.**

**Thanks _SunsetRainbow_ and _Ankosmini956_ for your reviews, cool new pen name by the way. Hope you guys like the new chapter and please review.**

**Thanks _MinnieMouse8990_ for the review, I get exactly what you mean. You'll see in this chapter that he nearly does get beat up, ha ha !! ^_^**

**Thanks _HellsingOtaku_ for the review and the info and ad on 'Hellsing', you're right the manga is very costly but it is one of the best and the OVA are much closer to the manga than the anime. Thanks for taking spending some time to advice me. Hope you like the new chapter ^_^!!**

**Hey there _blanc-hiver_, nice to hear/read from ya! Thanks for the review, and I know what you mean, I don't think that Hinata's worthless either, you'll see as the story progresses on that not many people do, except for one person, and... can't say anymore!! Thanks for your opinion, much appreciated and cool pen name, means 'white winter' right? **

**Thanks everyone, please read, enjoy and review!!!! Out of curiosity, do any of you like Phoenix Wright the DS game?**

**Chapter 12 - Kai**

Kai looked up at the Hokage faces and smiled proudly as he thought about the villager's love and loyalty for their leaders, both past and present. He smiled as he remembered the shy girl he met yesterday. The one who cowered in front of her father's eyes even if she was the future leader of her clan, which just so happened to be the most powerful existing clan in the village.

He got off the bench, and started walking down the road. He had excellent memory, and the way to the girl's house was etched perfectly into his mind's eye. He frowned as he failed to remember the girl's name, he remembered the name of her friends, Ino and Shikamaru, but because she was so shy and timid, her name didn't stay in his head, neither did her appearance, well a little did.

He whistled as he went down the road, and smirked when he noticed that some young women who had come early to work, blushed at the sight of him, some even swooned. This was the treatment he got everywhere he went, not like he didn't like the attention.

He stopped walking as he was met face to face with a white fierce dog as tall as him, growling saliva dripping down his very scary looking fangs.

"Oi, Akamaru! Where have you run to this time, we've got to go to the Hokage tower?" Came a loud male voice. Kai didn't dare turn around, lest the dog, no correction wolf attacked him. A grey blur swept past him, and he finally got a look at the owner of the voice.

He was a ninja, probably about fifteen nearing sixteen. He was quite well built, for a teenager anyway. He had two red tattoos in the shape of fangs on both cheeks.

"Who are you? I haven't seen you in the village before." The nameless boy said.

"Is he your dog? Could you ask him to back up?" Kai asked uncertainly. "I'm Kai, I'm travelling. I'm staying in this village to rest, I'll be leaving tomorrow."

"Oh all right. Hey Akamaru he isn't a threat. I'm Kiba Inuzuka and this is my companion Akamaru. Nice to meet you." Kiba said smiling, he didn't find anything wrong with the good looking man in front of him.

"Yeah, nice to meet you too. Wow, you must be really good if you have a companion that big. I know I must be keeping you but before you go could you tell me the name of the eldest daughter of the Hyuugan leader, please." Kai asked smiling.

At this Kiba frowned, now he was beginning to doubt his earlier judgement, he was wondering if it was too late to set Akamaru on him.

"Why do you want to know?" Asked a quiet mysterious voice behind Kiba.

Kiba turned around and greeted his best friend.

"Hey Shino, this is Kai. And Kai this is Shino Aburame, my best friend. Also he is right why do you want to know her name?"

Kai raised an eyebrow, one minute they were on friendly terms, and the next the two in front of him sound like a pair of overprotective older brothers.

"I met her yesterday; she was with her two friends Ino and Shikamaru. She was injured and I helped her get home. She told me her name and I had forgotten. I just wanted to go visit her, to see if she was okay." Kai shrugged, he could practically hear the gears grinding in the two ninjas head right now, as they digested this information.

"Why would you want to visit her if you just saw her yesterday? There is no need." Shino said in monotone voice.

Kai sighed. "She was injured, right? So I wanted to see if she was doing okay, besides I already promised her I would come. I know the way to her house, but I had forgotten her name. I'm not going to try anything dodgy, could you guys stop ignoring me and walking away?" Kai asked exasperated.

Kiba and Shino were already walking past him, towards the Hokage tower. Kiba half-turned and replied,

"If you know the way to her house, go visit her. You don't need to know Hinata's na-!" Kiba swore quietly, that he had let slip Hinata's name.

"Idiot." Shino said in the same monotone voice.

Kai grinned. "Thanks guys!" He yelled as he walked away towards the Hyuuga manor. He shook his head slightly, he smiled as he thought of his encounter with Kiba and Shino, and he wondered why they acted like overprotective brothers when it came to that shy girl, Hinata.

**10 minutes later, at the Hyuuga Manor**

Kai whistled slowly as he walked through the gates, he nodded at the guards who greeted him back. They remembered him from yesterday, when he brought home the young heiress who was injured.

Kai stopped inside the gate. Now he stuck, he didn't know where to find the girl. He decided to try every room until he arrived at the girl's room. He was about to walk off towards the front of the house, when again he found someone blocking his way.

He was a young man, probably a year or two younger than him. He had long brown hair, and pale white eyes that surveyed him, checking to see his worthiness.

"Who are you?" He asked in a strong calm voice.

Kai winced mentally, Damn! Why do I have the same treatment when it comes to this girl? He thought.

"Hi, I'm Kai. I'm searching for Hinata, do you know where she is?" He asked the boy in front of him, and slapped himself mentally when the boy's eyes narrowed at the mention of the name Hinata.

"Why do you need her? And I will repeat myself once again, who are you? I didn't ask your name." The boy asked Kai again, his voice even stronger and sterner.

"Right, and I will repeat myself as well, I'm Kai a traveller. I'm staying here for two days. I met Hinata yesterday and as she was injured I helped her get home. I only came to see if she was okay. Could you please introduce yourself to me?" Kai asked, the boy in front of him was strong, but he was not about to be dazed by him.

"Since you were the one to help Hinata yesterday, you may go and visit her,however if I hear any noises, or find out that you tried anything funny, you will not leave this village alive." Saying that the boy turned and started walking away. Halfway back to the manor, he half-turned and said,

"Her room is the one facing the garden, at the back." With that he disappeared into the manor.

"Well there goes a friendly introduction!" Kai muttered to himself. He started walking quickly towards the back of the manor, determined not to meet any more interruptions. However when he reached the back of the manor, he found that there were three rooms facing the garden.

He sighed and decided to try the room in the middle. He walked up to the room, and once in front of the room he knocked on the wooden door. There was no response for about a minute or so, Kai decided to try another room when the doors slid open.

His eyes met a pair of lavender eyes. He stepped back a little. And viewed the shy girl in front of him again, she was quite plain looking, although she was quite pretty. Unlike most of the girls he had met she wasn't wearing any make up or revealing clothes.

Hinata on the other hand had completely forgotten about him. Yesterday went as a daze; she had gained too many disappointed looks. Standing in front of her was a young man of about twenty. He was quite tall but not too tall, he was well built and tanned. His chocolate brown hair matched his chocolate brown eyes.

"Hi again, Hinata! How are you doing?" Kai asked her cheerfully. She looked surprised, and she didn't blush. Not exactly the response he was looking for.

"Um, hi, uh..." Hinata thought quickly. What was his name, his name?

"Kai. Don't worry about it, I had forgotten your name as well." He said cheerfully again.

"Oh, right s-sorry. I-I'm fine now. Th-Thank you for hel-helping me y-yesterday."

"No problem. How about you give me the tour now, huh?" Kai asked her.

"Okay. Could you w-wait for me by the f-front?" Hinata asked Kai.

"Sure. No problem." With that Kai left. Hinata closed the door behind her and started getting ready. She wore her usual ninja clothes, since she wasn't sure what else to wear.

She ran quickly to the front, as she didn't like to keep anyone waiting. She saw that Kai was waiting by the gates, and walked quickly to him. They started to leave when,

"HINATA!"

Hinata turned around to see Neji walking towards her. She smiled at him. She glanced at Kai, and saw that he was going slightly pink.

"What are you doing? Do you know him? And you, you said you wanted to visit her, not go out with her! What are you trying to hide?" Neji asked angrily.

"Um, brother p-please. He h-helped me and in ex-exchange I'm showing him around t-the village." Hinata explained to the angry Neji, who started to cool down.

"I've got to go to the main house. I'll see you later. Be back at the house by six. If you're not back by six, I'll alert the council and we'll come searching for you." Saying that Neji left.

"Whew! That was scary." Kai said looking relieved.

"Sorry, he is my cousin b-brother N-Neji. He is really o-over pr-protective of me."

"Yeah I can see. So.....where do we go first?" Kai asked.

"Well, I c-could take you to the training grounds, I could in-introduce you to s-some of my fr-friends." Hinata suggested.

"Sure, lets go."

**10 minutes later by the training grounds.**

As they neared the first training ground, they saw two blurs coming at each other from different ends. One green blur, the other a mixture of white and red blur.

As Hinata neared, the blurs stopped fighting to reveal an energetic green dressed boy with bushy brows and a panting girl with two brown buns on the head.

"Hi, you g-guys. Th-This is Kai, a-and Kai this is Rock Lee and Tenten." Hinata introduced the two groups. "They w-were in the same g-genin team as br-brother Neji."

"Yo Hinata! We heard of the mission, and about your youthful part in the mission. Your youth is very strong, that you injured yourself trying to protect your youthful lazy friend! I'm very happy about your you--" Lee was stopped in mid-speech due to Tenten's powerful blow on his head that had his face plummeting to the ground.

"Sorry about that Hinata! Lee if I hear any more youthfulness from you, I swear I'll kill you with my own hands!" Tenten threatened Lee. "I'm glad you're okay now Hinata, we were getting pretty worried you now. I literally had to hold back Neji from killing Shikamaru for using you as bait!" Tenten said in a gentler tone of voice.

Hinata giggled sweetly, which brought smiles on both Tenten and the hurt Lee's faces. Kai watched all this with amusement, it was as if he didn't exist, the others seemed to be paying more attention to Hinata's injury than the new guy.

"Well, w-we have to go now. I-I'll see you l-later." Hinata waved goodbye and started waling towards the Team 10 training ground.

As they reached the Team 10 training ground they saw three people resting on the ground, having a few drinks.

"Um, you already know Ino and Shikamaru, and this is Chouji Ackimichi." Hinata gestured at a big-boned boy who was eating a pack of crisps.

"Yo." And Choji went back to paying attention to his pack of crisps.

"Hey!" Ino flirted with Kai, Kai smiled his dashing smile which just made it worse and Ino blushed. For once Shikamaru ignored the new comer, he was awake, and yet it was obvious he was not interested in the newcomer.

He muttered something like 'troublesome fan girls' which earned him a glare from Ino. His ears had gone red as if he was angry about something. He got up and started walking.

"I'm going to practice more, Chouji you coming?"

"Yep, I'll be right there!" Chouji said with his mouth full and started walking towards the training ground.

"Um, did I say something?" Kai asked uncertainly, he wasn't really having the best of times in this village right now.

"No, I don't know what's with him. He's been acting strange for a while, probably missing his Fan girl. I'm going to practice as well!" Ino said angrily and walked off towards the training ground.

"Ookaay, now I really don't get what's going on." Kai said.

"No, I'm not really sure myself, but I think Ino was referring to Temari of the Sand." Hinata said smiling lightly, still looking at Ino.

"Why do you say that?"

"Temari carries a huge fan as her weapon, and both her and Shikamaru have gotten more friendly over the years." Hinata giggled lightly and said, "Lets move on, we'll skip the next training ground no one would be there right now. It's Team 8's training ground, I'm a member of Team 8, so are Shino and Kiba, but they're away on a mission, so they won't be there."

"Ah, so you do know them, I wondered why they were so overprotective of you. I understand now." Kai nodded his head, deep in thought.

**10 minutes later at Team 7's training ground.**

Two people were resting, one girl bending over the boy, healing his injured hand, whereas the boy used his other hand to draw something. A few paces away from them, another boy was constantly attacking a wooden block. He had spiky blond hair, and since his back faced them Kai couldn't tell exactly how he looked, but he could see that he was well built.

Kai frowned, as he realized that Hinata had been staring at the boy for quite a while now, with a sad expression on her face. He slowly touched her arm, she jumped and apologised and hesitantly moved towards the two crouching figures.

The girl healing the boy had short pink hair, emerald eyes strained with concentration and pretty pink lips. She looked up as she saw Hinata approach, and smiled warmly.

"Hey Hinata, I heard you got injured during the mission. Do you want me to take a look?" Sakura asked. Sai looked up and smiled at Hinata.

"How are you doing, uh...um..." Sai concentrated as he started to think of a suitable nickname for Hinata. He now knew what type of nicknames to give people.

Sakura realised with a shock that Sai might blurt out something rude, and got ready to clamp his mouth and punch the daylights out of him.

"Sh--"Sai was cut off when Sakura's hand landed on his mouth with a slap, and her other hand punched him on the top of his head, which unfortunately caused him to choke on his words.

"S-Sorry about that. Sai's just thinking about something else, aren't you Sai?" She asked with gritted teeth and a glare, Sai gulped and then nodded.

"Um...Sakura? Is Naruto o-okay, n-now?" Hinata asked nervously, with a slight nervous smile on her face. Her smile disappeared when Sakura's cheerful face took on a sad expression. She slowly shook her head, and looked at Naruto, words where not needed to explain, she obviously had tried however it clearly didn't work.

"Sorry Hinata but I tried." Sakura said slowly, even Sai looked solemn, his drawing hand had stopped and remained frozen on a lone spot. Kai looked back and forth between all three of them and the blond boy who still practising. He assumed that something bad had happened and that boy was still recovering, maybe not fast as the others.

"W-We'll get go-going now. B-Bye S-Sakura and S-Sai." Hinata waved at them, looked back at Naruto again and then started moving forward sadly. Kai sighed not understanding exactly what had taken place and also forward with Hinata.

Hinata was quite for some time, and then Kai finally decided to start a conversation with Hinata.

"Um, so yeah. I'll be leaving tomorrow morning. I'll come see you before I leave, is that okay?" Kai asked Hinata lightly.

"Hmm? Yes, that w-would b-be good. I-I should le-leave now. B-Bye." Saying that Hinata smiled sadly and left.

"See ya!" Kai shouted cheerfully, and they both parted ways.


	13. Chapter 13 Memories

**Yo! What's up people? I know I'm late, forgive me!!! I've had tooooooooo much work, blame the teachers. ^_^ Anyway back to the usual. This chapter contains what you've been waiting for (it's not goig to be too fluffy, I'm not into too much fluff myslef, soory) **

**Thanks **_**Ankosmini956**_ **for the review, you make my day everyday. ^_^!! He he honest!**

**Thank you **_**LoneAdvocate **_**for the review, and I foolwed your ad and changed the rate. Thanks again!  
Thanks **_**NinjaFighterGirl**_** for the review, I'm glad you like the plot, yay I feel soooo good!!**

**Thank you **_**HellsingOtaku**_** for the review and I'm not sure if this guy is going to be that important, I guess I need to torture my brain more to find out. I'll get back to you on that! ^_^**

**Thanks **_**blanc-hiver**_** thanks for the review, you will receive your answers in this chapter mate, please keep reading. Thanks again!^_^**

**Thanks **_**Kasuchi, Koichi**_**, I get what you mean, he does seem to give off that aura doesn't he? Hopefully he won't, I guess we'll have to wait and see... ^_^**

**Thanks **_**helovestowrite**_** for the review, you know exactly what I mean then, thanks man! It's cool though hope you like this chapter. **

**Okay now the next bit, **_**ElementKiyoko**_** and **_**Rose Of Demise**_** thanks a lot for adding me to your favourites, really happy, see you made me grin like a mad person.  
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**Hope you guys like this chapter as well, please review again, thanks a lot you guys !!!! And if you don't mind could you guys read my other story and review me I would like some moral support please. Anywho on with the story!! See Ya!!^_^**

**Chapter 13 - Memories**

**7am Hyuuga Manor**

Neji walked down the corridor, and stopped outside his uncle's office. He politely knocked on the door and waited. He went in as the door opened, and saw that his uncle was not alone, several elders sat around the table and some of them turned to look at the Hyuugan prodigy. Neji bowed low and stood still awaiting orders.

"Neji. You will begin preparations of tonight's departure. Make sure that you pack everything and see to it that you give a good impression of the family while at the mainland. Do not embarrass us, and see to it that Hinata does her job. Go tell her to say her goodbyes to her friends as she will be leaving today." Hiashi spoke with the air of authority around him.

He searched Neji's stoic face for any signs of rebellion, it was quite obvious that the Hyuugan prodigy had gotten closer to his younger cousin in these three years, after all she was the one who welcomed him the most. He was a little disappointed to see that Neji's facial expression had not changed. He sighed mentally and cursed his genes that most men in the family inherited, hence the stoic expression.

"That is all. You are dismissed."

Neji bowed low again, and slowly turned and closed the door as he left the room. Outside the room he stared at the ground and clenched and unclenched his fists as he tried to calm down. Sighing angrily at the decision his elders had made he walked purposefully towards Hinata's room.

Once reaching Hinata's room, he knocked on the door and waited patiently. He didn't have to wait long since the door quickly opened to reveal, a slightly tired Hinata. Hinata bowed quickly in respect to her elder cousin brother, Neji no longer was surprised by her actions, unlike most in her family Hinata didn't care if you were from the Branch or Head family, she treated everyone equally and with the respect they deserved expecting nothing in return.

She stepped back, to let Neji come in to the room. Neji sighed tiredly and went in. He closed his eyes, and thought silently of how Hinata would react to his words, after all he wasn't known for his comforting words.

"Lord Hiashi would like you to get ready for today's departure and would like you to complete your job successfully. He also gave you permission to say your farewells to your friends." He watched Hinata carefully to see her reaction, but was appalled to find that she was taking this all calmly.

"I-I understand brother. I-I will do my best." Hinata said softly. She bit her lower lip to hold the tears that were threatening to fall down her face.

Neji waited patiently expecting more, but since none came he went on,

"Are you happy with this decision Hinata? You will not be able to continue to be a ninja if you go through with this. Are you prepared to leave your friends behind? Especially Naruto, when he's like this?" Neji asked quietly, each question stabbing at Hinata's conscience.

"There is nothing else to it brother. I have to let go. There will be someone else fore Naruto, its not me. I have to do my best for the family, I'm not as strong as you or the other girls." Hinata said quietly.

"Hmm, giving up on your word, huh Hinata? You don't have to be as strong as me physically to lead this family, and you know that. Are you going to tell the others about this?" Neji asked, looking at the frail girl in front of him pitifully. _She really needs to be more confident in herself_. Neji thought to himself.

"I-I don't th-think that I-I will. I-I might end up gi-giving them m-more trouble th-than they already h-have now." Hinata said failing to meet her brother's sharp eyes.

Neji sighed. "Think carefully about your decision Hinata. You will not be alone in this matter." Saying this Neji walked past Hinata and left the room. After the door closed behind her, Hinata looked up to reveal pretty lavender eyes filled to the brim with tears.

She walked quietly to her bed and started crying silently. When a knock sounded on her door, she hurriedly wiped off her tears and said with a weak voice, "Come in."

A servant came in and bowed, "Lady Hinata, a man named Kai is waiting outside for you. He said that he wanted to say goodbye."

"Th-Thank you. I-I will come s-see him." Hinata said slowly. The servant bowed and left the room immediately. Hinata quickly washed her face and changed into her usual training clothes. She walked quickly to the front of her house to meet Kai.

Seeing Kai patiently waiting for her, she ran the few steps to him and smiled. Kai smiled back but a slight frown was on his face after noticing Hinata's red eyes. Deciding not to pry, Kai began the conversation.

" Hey Hinata, I'm leaving today in about two hours time. I just decided that I would spent some time with you and then leave, if you have no problem with it that is." Kai said cheerfully.

"N-No it's o-okay."

"All right then, today instead of looking around the village how about we just talk about a few things?" Kai asked, "We could probably go have breakfast somewhere and walk around, I mean we haven't got much time, right?"

"O-Okay. L-Let's go." Hinata said.

**Half an hour later, at Ichiraku Ramen's**

There was painful silence as neither companion spoke to each other. They had been eating in complete silence for about ten minutes now. Finally unable to bear the silence that grew thicker around them, Kai decided to break it.

"So Hinata, um, well how about we get to know each other more? I mean I will be leaving shortly, and I prefer knowing more about my friends before I leave." Kai said cheerfully, as Hinata turned to face him,

"Okay I'll start. I'm Kai, I'm 20 yrs old and I like to travel around the country. I'm not a ninja but I'm not bad at fighting either. I also like chicken flavoured ramen a lot and fresh green tea. My favourite colour is red and my most prized treasure in the world is my country I guess. Now what about you?"

"Uh, um, I-I'm Hinata Hyuuga, h-heiress of the Hyuuga cl-clan. Uh, um..." Hinata stuttered hesitantly.

"Okay, I'll help. I'll ask you the questions and you answer me okay?" Kai asked Hinata, to which Hinata nodded slowly.

"What is your favourite colour?"

"Um, lilac or l-lavender." Hinata replied.

"Okay I'll skip to the end now. What is or are your most prized treasure / treasures?" Kai asked expectantly.

"M-My pr-prized treasure are my friends..." Hinata replied as images of Naruto, Sakura, Ino, Neji and the others flitted through her mind.

"So your prized treasures are your friends, so I take it that you care about their happiness. So why is that guy, the blond one so... well you know spaced out sort of, he didn't even greet you the other day, does that mean he isn't one of your friends?" Kai asked waiting to see Hinata's reaction, he had guessed yesterday that Hinata harboured feelings for that blond guy, he just wanted to make sure.

"No, no, no that's not it! Naruto, Naruto isn't rude, he – he is just sad, he just lost his mentor and he's just sad. You don't know anything about him, he's probably worried about saving Sasuke right now!" Hinata said quickly, her face looking a little flushed.

Kai raised an eyebrow at Hinata's outburst, now he was definitely sure that Hinata has feelings for this guy, but to this extent? She hadn't even stuttered. He sighed heavily.

"Okay, well. You just mentioned that guy Sasuke right? I heard that he betrayed your village and went to join your enemy or something is that true?" Kai asked slowly. He mentally slapped himself when he saw Hinata frowning.

"Y-You don't understand. I know he betrayed us, but we d-don't know how he felt. W-We have to help him u-understand that h-his home exists i-in this vi-village, th-that's what friends are f-for." Hinata said slowly, not lifting her eyes from the ground.

The ramen shop had gone quiet when they heard the pair talking about Sasuke the traitor. A few of the older men including the owner of the shop smiled at Hinata's reply to Kai's question. They were happy, glad that the younger generation knew what it meant to be a ninja and especially what it meant to be friends.

"Then shouldn't you first help the guy in the village understand that his home exists here among his friends before you convinced someone outside the village?" Kai said casually as he stood up.

Hinata's head shot up. She understood that Kai meant Naruto but immediately doubts started filling her mind. If his best friends couldn't help him, how could she?

"It doesn't matter if you are close friends are not, all that matters is that you have happy memories of them before you leave right?" Kai asked smiling innocently. Hinata frowned.

"W-What do you mean 'l-leave'?" She asked quietly.

"Well, you know you guys are ninjas right? So you guys have a low life expectancy, wouldn't you want to spent everyday happy, since you wouldn't know which was your last?" Kai asked.

Hinata didn't reply. She kept staring at the ground thinking about what Kai had just told her. She finally decided that even if she didn't end up changing anything, she should try talking to Naruto at least once before she left tonight.

"Okay, looks like I've got to get going. I'll set off a little early, it doesn't hurt to be early right? See ya Hinata, hope we meet again some day!" Kai said as Hinata got off her seat smiling. They waved goodbye to each other and Kai left running to the gate.

As Hinata left the ramen shop she began thinking. She should spent some time with her friends they might be her last. Since Kiba and Shino are away on missions, she guessed it would be good to spent some time with the girls, she hadn't spend much time with them recently.

"Shikamaru, you lazy bum! Ah! Am I the one who has to do all the work around here?! Chouji help me damn it!" An angry female voice sounded ahead. Recognising the voice, Hinata ran in the direction of the voice.

As she turned the corner, Hinata stifled a giggle with the sight that she was met with. In front of her was a sleeping Nara, a munching Akimichi and an angry Yamanaka. Ino was still shouting but her team mates were paying no heed. Yawning loudly Shikamaru squinted his eyes open slightly.

Noticing Hinata he straightened up quickly, he smiled warmly at the younger girl in front of him.

"Yo Hinata what's up?" He asked lazily stretching. At that both Chouji and Ino turned around to look at Hinata. Chouji smiled warmly, where as Ino just ran up and flung her arms around Hinata, hugging her tightly.

"Hey Hinata, how's your arm feeling ? Why are you up so early? There's no reason for you to be, but we do. Dad and the other two asked us to help out, I was on my way over to the forest, but these two idiots are not coming to help. Tell them to come Hinata!" Ino said angrily. Jabbing an angry finger in the boys' direction who shrugged nonchalantly.

"Um, uh Shikamaru, Chouji? I was thinking that I could go out with Ino and Sakura, so, um..." Hinata looked up at them shyly waiting for their answers. To her relief they just smiled and shrugged.

"Sure Hinata go ahead, we'll do Ino's shift as well it's no big deal, we'll explain to the old men." Shikamaru said walking past them. Chouji followed him, smiling at Hinata and shooting her a thumbs up.

"How is it that they don't listen to me but they listen to you? You've got one scary power Hinata, if you're able to get Shikamaru off his lazy backside, you're strong enough of a ninja for me!" Ino joked. Hinata giggled.

**10 minutes later at the Konoha hospital**

"HEY!! FOREHEAD GIRRRLLLLLLL, WHERE ARE YOU?" Ino shouted, getting passers by to look up in alarm. Hinata tried to bend lower so as not to be associated with Ino.

"INO PIG!! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING SHOUTING LIKE THAT IN THE HOSPITAL? YOU'RE DISTURBING THE PATIENTS!!" Sakura fumed at Ino.

"Um, isn't that what you're doing Sakura?" Hinata smiled weakly at Sakura, her ears were still ringing from all that noise.

"Oh, yeah um sorry. What are you doing here Hinata with this boar?" Sakura asked Hinata kindly.

"What was that bill board brow?! Anyway to the matter, Hinata wants to go out with us so lets go." Ino changed track quickly seeing Hinata's face.

"Out sure, my shift's over anyway. Wait for me I'll get changed quickly." Sakura said running off towards the changing rooms.

**7 pm in the evening**

Hinata hummed to herself happily. She had a really good time with both Ino and Sakura. She had spent so much time without even realising that it was getting late. It was only when Shikamaru interrupted that they realised it was late and that it was time to go home.

As she was nearing her house, Hinata sighed and looked up at the moon remembering the journey that lay ahead of her. She looked to her side and noticed that there was a lone figure sitting on the Hokage faces. She realised that it was Naruto since he had been to the Hokage faces numerous times at night since Lord Jiraiya had died.

Deciding to go see him she ran off towards him. Nearing him, she quietly walked towards him and noticed that his sad face was turned towards the moon. Gathering her courage she slowly went and sat next to him. She saw him tense and then relax as he realised who his companion was.

"N-Naruto? Why are you here?" She asked him hesitantly.

He didn't answer. Not wanting to loose her newly acquired courage quickly, she decided to speak her mind and put her heart to rest.

"N-Naruto I-I know you're angry and sad but y-you can't remain this way. Everyone's waiting for you to return to your old self. I-I won't say that I-I know how you feel because I-I don't, I-I don't understand even a little... I don't understand how you can take this much pain and remain you are."

Still there was no response from Naruto, but the way his ears were strained you could say that he was listening carefully to every single word Hinata said.

"I-I just wanted to let you know that you have friends, we can share your burden if you would let us. Your home is here, it exits with your friends but we can sense that you are slowly leaving us. I-I know that you're probably thinking about Sasuke now but...you can't save him not like this. There's no way you can save someone when you yourself are lost!"

Hinata said without stuttering, tears running down her face. Behind them, Kakashi and Tsunade were watching them along with some of the others such Gai, Kurenai and Iruka. They had decided earlier to go along to talk to Naruto and help him change his mind. They watched quietly as Hinata continued to talk.

"You've changed Naruto, you aren't the same cheerful person that I admired. Everyone's missing your old self. I know you're upset bout Lord Jiraiya's death, but by remembering his death you are just replaying his death over and over again.

Someone told me today that it is good to have happy memories about someone. Our life is filled with memories, if someone has died shouldn't you be thinking about the good memories that you both shared. I believe that no matter what a person will continue living in another's memories...that is life." Hinata said quietly, wiping her tears she stood up slowly. "I'm sorry Naruto, but I-I have to l-leave now. I-I hope you h-have g-good m-memories a-about your home a-and f-friends."

Saying that she left off towards her house. The adults who were watching all of this smiled at Hinata's words. They decided that she had done a better job than they collectively could. Kurenai felt a strong tug of pride in her chest as she watched Hinata leave.

As they turned to leave, Kakashi noticed a drop of tear fall from Naruto's eyes and was immediately assured that he would be okay, and that there was no longer a need to worry.

**9 pm outside the Hyuuga manor**

Hinata checked herself in the full length mirror, she wore a simple kimono ready for travelling. She sighed and went over to her bed, knowing that this was probably the last day she was going to be here, she took out a picture from underneath her bed. It was picture of a five yr old Hinata, her mother and a new born Hanabi. Tucking it inside her kimono, she went outside where her family were waiting for her.

She walked over towards the carriage in which she will be travelling with Neji. Her father blessed her and waited for her to get in. She was about to get in when she noticed Hanabi waiting by her father's side, and remembering what Kai said in the morning, she walked towards Hanabi and took out the picture from her kimono. Handing it to Hanabi she got into the carriage. She saw Hanabi's eyes widen as she saw the content of the picture, and her father turn to look at her in surprise. She smiled slowly, and sighed,

_Here I am, on my way to a new life and a chance to start anew... then why am I not happy?_


	14. Chapter 14 True Pain

**Hey you guys, sorry for delay you guys, I had too much work these past few days. In fact I have two essay due in next week, one for 1500 words min, and another 400 words min.**

**Thanks _helovestowrite_ for the review. Seriously you're a star! You help me and encourage me a lot. All of you do. Hope you enjoy this chapter and please review. Thanks for adding me in your favourites as well.**

**Thanks _HellsingOtaku_ for the review. I missed your reviews. By the way, I watched the Hellsing anime and OVA, but I still prefer the manga to be honest, don't know why. Please enjoy this chapter and review me. Thnaks! ^_^**

**Anyway, I couldn't think of a decent title today but yeah.. sorry...**

**Thank you everyone for reading, please enjoy, and please review me. Thank you!!!**

**Chapter 14 – True Pain**

Hinata woke up groggily. Her pale lavender tinted eyes pink from crying the night before. Her resolve had been strong but as usual when parting from an area you are used to, her memories came flooding back; the times she spent with her father and mother, the first time she met Neji, the first time she admired Naruto, the first time she felt happy.

Getting up from her make shift bed in the corner of the carriage she was travelling in, Hinata felt strangely uncomfortable. She looked down to see that she was wearing quite an expensive plain looking kimono. Suddenly the memories from last night came hurtling back; she remembered leaving the village without saying any of her friends about it, and she remembered talking to Naruto.

Hinata felt deep pain in her heart and started crying as she realised that she might never see her friends again and neither would she see Naruto. She cried harder remembering that she hadn't seen Kiba or Shino before she had left, they were away on a mission. They were her best friends and her surrogate family; they looked after her as if she were their younger sister.

Outside the carriage, the Hyuugan branch family members who were guarding the heiress listened with pity to the heiress cries. Although not many of them like the main family, they held nothing against the young heiress; she was different, she treated them with the same respect and equality that she treats the main family members.

Neji who was travelling by the front of the carriage clenched his fist tightly. He was well able to hear Hinata's cries, the same happened last night, but he chose to stay silent thinking she would get over it. However he could no longer let her suffer like this by herself. Deciding to go and stop her cries, Neji walked towards the carriage, he signalled the other Hyuuga guards to stop the carriage.

He knocked quietly outside the carriage and waited. Although the guards seemed to be uninterested, some stole quick glances of Neji to see what he was going to do. After a few seconds a strangled voice called out, "Come in."

Neji sighed and entered the carriage. Hinata was sitting in the corner, dressed neatly, hair combed; the only signs that showed that she had been crying were her slightly red puffy eyes. Neji took one look at her and new that she was mentally distressed. Her usual shy smile was not in place, and she remained sitting when he came through the door, as if afraid that she might break down if she stood.

"Hinata, are you okay?" Neji asked quietly. Out of the corner of his eyes he could see that some of the guards were moving back slightly to get a better view into the carriage.

Hinata kept her sight on the floor of the carriage and said quietly, "Yes brother. I'm fine, thank you."

"Hinata, remember you asked for this. You wanted this. You were given two weeks to opt out and yet you stood still. It's not too late; we can turn back and go now." Neji said moving forward.

Hinata shot up to her feet, "No you don't understand brother. I won't go back on my word. I-I'm not do-doing this f-for myself, this is f-for the Hyuuga clan, b-branch f-family and m-main family. I-I n-need to b-become st-strong e-enough to s-stop what's happening to o-our clan. T-The only way I-I can s-stop the c-caged b-bird s-seal i-is to g-gain m-more p-power and a-authority..." Hinata said quietly trailing off.

Neji looked at her surprised. He had never thought that she would be thinking about the well fare of other people even in a situation like this. He sighed mentally, wasn't this what he said was her weakness during the Chunnin exams three years ago? Of course he later found out that it was because of this that she had so many friends who cared for her.

All of sudden Hinata lunged at Neji, crying into his chest. Neji to say the least was surprised, although he now thought of Hinata as his younger sister, he didn't think that Hinata would go so far as to accept him to be her older brother.

"I-I'm so-sorry b-brother. I j-just w-wish I-I w-wasn't b-born, I'm w-weak, m-my fa-father hates me! E-Everyone h-hates me, t-the bra-branch a-and m-main f-family. Y-You sh-should h-have born in t-the m-main fa-family, n-not me." Hinata wept into Neji's chest.

Neji closed his arms around Hinata, and hugged her close. "Don't say that Hinata, you're wanted. I bet everyone back at the village are searching for you right now."

"N-No, y-you're wr-wrong, t-they w-wouldn't h-have n-noticed t-that I-I w-was m-miss-ing." Hinata cried harder.

**Meanwhile back at the village, 9 am.**

Sakura was hurrying around the hospital trying to get the patient files done. She had to do extra work today since she left her shift early yesterday. It was worth it though. She smiled as she remembered the fun she had last night shopping with Ino and Hinata. Hinata rarely hung out with them, but she really ended up making them happy.

She made mental note to invite Hinata every time she went shopping with Ino, this way they would actually get some shopping done instead of arguing the entire time. She sighed and looked at the clock.

_Man, I'm going to be staying here for a long time._ Sakura thought tiredly. She turned around to see that Ino was treating a patient right now. She slumped over her desk tired of all the paper work.

SLAM! The doors burst open. Sakura and Ino looked up startled, they readied themselves quickly, kunais in hand. If this was an enemy attack they had to be prepared.

They dropped their kunais in shock as they saw the one who slammed open the doors. It was Naruto.

"SAKURA! INO! Hey you guys, long time no see!" Naruto ran up to them and said cheerfully. They could see that Naruto wasn't as cheerful as he normally used to be but they could also clearly see that he had gotten out of his depressed state.

"N-Naruto? Y-You're f-feeling okay?" Sakura whispered hesitantly. "Y-You're not s-sad anymore?" She asked tears welling in her eyes.

Naruto looked at her shocked. His face fell into a sad frown, "It's not that Sakura, but last night Hinata reminded me of something. She reminded me that it was alright to be sad but not too much that I let it affect my friends. She...she reminded me that all my precious people live forever in my memories..." Naruto said unhappily.

Naruto nearly fell over when a body slammed into him. He looked up in suprise to see that it was Ino. She had tears in her eyes as well, but she was smiling happily.

"Damn it Naruto! You got us all worried!" Ino sadi happily. Sakura was staring at the floor. Out of no where she raised her fist and slammed into on Naruto's head.

"YOU IDIOT! YOU HAD US ALL WORRIED!" Sakura shouted as she hugged Naruto tightly. Tears flowing freely down her face. Naruto smiled at both Ino and Sakura, Hinata was right, all his friends cared for him deeply.

"Oh hey, do you know where Hinata is? I need to thank her, we could even go out for ramen, my treat! What do you say?" Naruto said happily.

"No actually we don't, but we'll come with you, we need to tahnk Hinata as well." Sakura said, she turned around quickly and wrote a note for the senior nurse and left before she could arrive.

**30 minutes of searching later**

"I'm dieing! The sun is boiling me! Where did Hinata go?!" Naruto cried as he dragged his feet on the ground.

"Naruto you idiot, stop whining! Let's go find the others they might know where Hinata is." Sakura said angrily.

"Look there'sKiba and Shino, they might know where Hinata is, let's go see. Come on Shikamaru!" Ino said grabbing a half asleep Shikamaru's arm.

They had found Shikamaru and Chouji minutes ago at their usual place. The two males agreed to help the girls find Hinata, because they also wanted to thank her for Naruto's normal behaviour.

"OI! KIBA! SHINO!" Naruto shouted, waving at the two ninjas and the large dog waling next to them.

"NARUTO! THAT YOU???!" Kiba shouted back. Everyone else grimaced, it was painful having two loud mouths in the village, and well at least it was for their ears.

When they finally met each other, most of them were panting, except Shino, who had decided to walk rather than run just to get to the other side of the road.

"Naruto, I'm glad to know that you are back to your normal self." Shino said in his usual monotone voice, he nodded his head in agreement .

"So how and when did you get back to normal, man?" Kiba asked patting Naruto's shoulder.

"Last night I suppose, Hinata helped me out a little." Naruto said smiling lightly. At this Kiba and Shino shared a glance, they smiled internally, glad that Hinata finally plucked up the courage to talk to Naruto probably, even go as far as helping him out of his depression. "Actually I'm searching for her right now, you guys know where she is?"

The internal smiles that Shino and Kiba shared faded as quickly as it appeared, in their places frowns appeared. Of course, she wouldn't have spoken, unless there was something else going on! They shared their thought.

"No we haven't seen her, we just arrived from a mission." Kiba said.

"Something must be up, you should all know by now that Hinata wouldn't have confronted Naruto like that unless something was up." Shino addressed the others. And the other young ninja except Naruto knowingly nodded their heads.

"Yeah, she even wanted to go shopping with us, now that was weird." Ino said looking at Sakura, who nodded in agreement.

"We should go ask for her at the Hyuuga compound." Sakura said and the all set off towards the Hyuuga compound.

**10 minutes later outside the Hyuuga compound**

Hiashi Hyuuga had come out hearing the entire ruckus outside. He frowned as he recognised Naruto's loud voice asking for Hinata. He remembered the other jonins feeling slightly put out due to his depression.

"What is it that you all want?" He asked them. The others stopped their arguing, and Sakura stepped forward.

"Lord Hiashi, we were wondering where Hinata was. She's been missing all day." Sakura said.

"I thought she would have notified you, but she clearly hadn't. I'm sure you know that the young Lord Kaien is looking for a wife, Hinata has gone to be a possible suitor." Hiashi said not looking at them.

"But that doesn't exactly mean that she wanted to go right? Lady Tsunade you have to listen!" A voice cried behind them. Everyone turned around to see Tenten and Lee walking with a very happy-to-get-out-of-the-office looking Hokage.

"So it is true then Hiashi, you sent Hinata without asking her." Tsunade said addressing the Hyuugan leader.

Hiashi looked insulted, "I did no such thing! I asked Hinata and she accepted."

"More like you commanded her and she accepted. Right?" Tsunade said looking smug.

"Wait then, that means that Hinata can't be a ninja anymore!" Ino said shocked.

"What do you mean? She's only going to see some guy, right?" Naruto asked puzzled. "Right?" He asked again looking at the others around him, who had slight smiles on their faces.

"No Naruto, she is going to get married, and you're right Ino, this would mean that she would no longer be a ninja. Although I can't officially meddle in this Hiashi, I don't want to loose one of my best tracking ninja." Tsunade said one hand rubbing her chin.

"We have to get her back, there's no way she would want to marry this Kaien guy!" Kiba said loudly, attracing all attention towards him.

"Why is that Inuzuka?" Hiashi asked.

"Well, because sh—" Kiba was cut off by Shino's usually hidden hands clasping his mouth shut.

"You know why, sir. I'm sure most of us here do." Shino said quietly.

The others agreed, they were deciding what to do when,

"Well that's settled it, I don't know if she wanted to marry this guy or not, but I need to thank her. Either way I'm going to see her, if she's in any trouble I'll help her. Now who's with me?" Naruto said looking around for support.

This time round everyone smiled visibly.

""Right then here is you mission, you lot. You will go to see Hinata to show her your support. Do not cause unnecessary trouble, if she is in need of help, you will assist her. Got it? This is an S rank mission guys so be careful." Tsunade said. Everyone nodded.

"But granny, we're only going to see Hinata, so why is it an S ranked mission?" Naruto asked.

They all slapped their foreheads, and turned to go get packed.

_Your friends are coming for you Hinata but will you accept them?_ Hiashi thought silently and went back into the Hyuuga manor.


	15. Chapter 15 Lord Kaien

**I'm soooooo sorry guys for taking soooo long. It's just that I kind of felt demotivated for a while, so I couldn't write anything even though I had the idea in my head, but after reading your reviews for a while I couldn't help but write it down. So thank you so much for helping me mentally. Please keep your reviews coming in.**

**Thanks **helovestowrite** for the review, thanks for reviewing, and I'm really glad you understand. Please enjoy this chapter and hope you like it, please review.**

**Thanks **blanc-hiver** for the review. Hey no problem I'm glad you took your time to review me, so thanks a lot. I hope you enjoy this chapter as well and please review.**

**Thanks **HellsingOtaku** I know what you mean, but I don't much about Hiashi so I'mjust guessing here, sorry. Thanks for the review, hope you like this chapter and please review.**

Thanks Ankosmini956 for the review, like I said before, I'm just glad that you reviewed me, so yeah. Hope you enjoy this chapter and please review.

**Oh yeah, and guys I've finally done my profile page, so please take a look and tell me what you think of it. Ummm.. yeah, I have to make this recommendation, please watch HAJIME NO IPPO it is sooooo cool!!**

**Chapter 15 – Lord Kaien.**

The nine ninjas from the Leaf village ran through the forest as quickly as possible. They avoided the road since it was way too long and they wanted to get to Hinata as quickly as possible. Kiba and Shino were leading the team since they other than Hinata were the best tracking ninja in their group. Suddenly Shino, Kiba and Akamaru stopped. The rest of the ninjas stopped behind them.

"We are close to the city. We should start walking now, people might get suspicious." Shino announced to the rest of the group in his usual monotone voice.

In reply, they all stepped down from the trees and dusted themselves. They were wearing civilian attire, since the Hokage insisted that they did. None of them were wearing their forehead protectors and the girls were wearing kimonos, even Tenten.

The boys took all their bags and all nine of them started moving forward quickly. As they entered the city, they took in the beautiful view. The city was decorated since in a few days the Feudal Lord's son would be getting married.

They wandered all over the city for a while trying to find out where Hinata might be. Since the Hyuuga group had left early they must be in the city and would probably be getting ready to present themselves to the young Lord soon.

"That's it! I've had enough!" Naruto said, tired of walking all day. "HINA--" Naruto was cut off with Kiba's hand on his mouth.

"Shut up you idiot! We're here to see Hinata, not get ourselves thrown out!" Sakura said hurriedly. The others smiled nervously at passers by who glared at the young group of friends.

Suddenly out of nowhere a loud, clear bell rang. People stopped what they were doing and started walking hurriedly towards the centre. Shikamaru pulled out an old man from the crowd and asked him politely what was going on.

"Don't you know?! The suitors will be presenting themselves to Lord Kaien now."

The friends looked at each other and set off quickly in the direction of the crowd. Upon arriving they saw that the crowds were split, in the middle a red carpet trailed up to the throne. The young Leaf ninjas waited patiently to see the young Lord, who would be arriving any minute now. The crowds gasped, the women mostly, and the ninjas looked around to see who was causing this.

Their jaws dropped as they recognised the young son of the Feudal Lord. Kai, also known as Lord Kaien was walking down the red carpet, and as he passed them he winked and went up to sit in his throne.

Another set of gasps erupted, as the first suitor, a beautiful 19 yr old woman with shoulder length brown hair and bright green eyes, dressed exquisitely in a fine silk kimono walked up to the young Lord. Even Lord Kaien seemed surprised and for some reason scared.

Several suitors followed after her, one of them was Sena who looked as her usual arrogant self. She smirked as she walked past Ino, who stuck out her tongue at her. By now the nine disguised ninjas were getting tired, they had been waiting for about an hour, and still Hinata hadn't arrived. They were beginning to wonder if she had turned back and gone to the village instead.

All of a sudden the crowd went quiet. The ninjas turned to look and their jaws dropped further than it had dropped when they first saw Lord Kaien. A beautiful young woman, probably aged 15, walked forward. Her straight blue hair trailed behind her back, along with a few long strings of turquoise beads woven into her hair, part of her hair was combed together into a bun with little blue flowers stuck into it.

She wore a white silk kimono with slight traces of blue flowers. In her hand she was holding the Hyuuga symbol. Surrounding her were Hyuuga guards, to her right was a young man also dressed exquisitely, he looked like to be her brother.

She didn't look up as she passed her friends. Neji's eyes widened slightly as he recognised them. Tenten was blushing for some reason that Lee seemed to understand.

Lord Kaien went slightly pink as he watched Hinata arrive, Sena turned pale as she recognised who this was. Hinata came up to the front and offered the symbol to the young Lord, bowed slightly and stepped back. Many young men were starting to become slightly jealous of the young Lord.

**Half an hour later**

The nine young ninjas were currently waiting by a group of guest houses. They were waiting outside a particular one that had the Hyuuga symbol but didn't go in because there were guards waiting outside not letting them go in. After a while Neji came outside to see them, still dressed exquisitely.

"Why are you guys here?" He asked quietly in his monotone voice.

"What the hell do you mean Neji?! We came to get Hinata back!" Tenten shouted.

"Hell yeah! You know that she wouldn't want to marry anyone other than the fool!" Sakura said. Naruto looked at her confused; he didn't know who she was talking about.

Neji sighed. "Look, Hinata wanted this. I asked her to turn back, but she wouldn't agree. On top of that she asked you guys to go home. I'm sorry." He turned to walk back towards the guest house.

"Wait! I need to thank her." Naruto said quickly before Neji could leave.

Neji smiled as he saw that Naruto was back to his usual self, and then his smile turned sad. "Sorry but she said that she didn't want to see anyone."

"What the hell?!" Ino and Kiba shouted at the same time.

"She's made it clear that she really wants to marry Lord Kaien. No one else is in her mind." Neji answered.

"That's impossible. She is trying to fool herself." Shino said in his monotone voice and walked away. Shikamaru, Choji and Lee followed him.

Naruto clenched his fist tightly, until his fingernails left imprints on his palm. He didn't know why he was angry, whether it was because she refused to see him or whether it was because she was going to get married to someone.

After Neji had left the three girls were still standing there, shaking with fury.

"That's it! I'm going to see Hinata." Ino announced.

"Yeah, I'm with you." Sakura nodded her head stiffly, seething with anger.

"If I know her, she would be in the back garden now. Let's go!" Tenten said.

"Wait, I'm coming as well." Naruto said quietly. The girls turned to him surprised, smiled and then nodded.

They set off quickly, and quietly. They walked carefully, trying not to get caught by the sharp Hyuuga eyes. As they reached the back garden they saw that their prediction was right. Hinata was still dressed the same as before.

It started raining, and yet Hinata remained where she was, refusing to protect her expensive clothes. She stood quietly by the flowers and slowly fingered them.

She slowly looked up to the sky and smiled sadly. Quietly she sang,

"If I could be free like you,

I would live happy.

If I would be loved like you,

I would die happy..."

Her clear, melodic voice rang quietly. Drops of tears flowed down her face, as she stopped singing. Unable to contain her sadness any longer she ran back into the house, and left her four friends staring after her in sadness. They didn't realise that Hinata was in so much pain.

_Wait for me Hinata, this time I will save you from your pain. _Naruto vowed silently in his head.


	16. Chapter 16 The Truth

**Hey everyone! I'm back soon because well I wanted to clear a few things. **

**Thank you _Zzz_, although you did flame me, I have to admit that your reasoning makes sense, so thanks for motivating me whether you believe it or not, I cleared up most of your questions, hopefully you will like this chapter, because it makes more sense (I think), if you read it, could you review me please, even if you don't like it. Thanks a bunch!!**

**Thank you _Kasuchi, Koichi_ for the review. I think you might like this chapter. Please read, and yeah please review. Thank you so much for your support. Thank you!!!!**

**Thank you _HyuugaRanmaru_, thank you so so much. I felt so happy when I read your review. Thank you, thank you, and thank you. Hope you enjoy this chapter as well, and please review me. Thank you again.**

**Thank you _Grand Wolf_ for the review. Thank you for thinking that it was cute, thank you as well for making so happy. Thank you again and please enjoy this chapter and review. Thanks!!**

**Hey thanks _emauser_ for adding my story in your favourites list, I appreciate it. Hope you like this chapter and please review.**

**Everyone enjoy this chapter and please review me!!! Thank you all for reading!!!**

**Chapter 16 – The Truth**

Naruto lay awake in the boys' room, repeatedly clenching and unclenching his fist. He could not get Hinata's distressed face away from his mind's eye. He sighed deeply closing his eyes, remembering the song Hinata had sung.

Beside him Kiba snored, Chouji was still munching his imaginary chips, and Shikamaru lay peacefully on the bunk above Lee. He came crashing down as Lee unconsciously high kicked the 'bed monster', after opening the first four gates. The others all woke up and rushed over to their side to help the hurt Shikamaru, and the apologising Lee. Shino slept on as if nothing had occurred.

**Over in the girls' room**

"HEY, FOREHEAD GIRL YOU ASLEEP YET?" Ino shouted in Sakura's ear, who jerked upwards slamming her head on the roof. Tenten sniggered at the two, especially at Sakura who now sported a large pink bump on her head that matched the colour of her hair. Ino smiled slyly.

"What do you want Ino pig?!" Sakura asked angrily.

"Hey guys, cut it out. We should get serious." Tenten said trying to suppress her laughter.

"Yeah Tenten's right. I couldn't sleep; I kept seeing Hinata's face every time I closed my eyes." Ino said.

"I know, I feel rotten now, doubting her like that." Sakura said.

"Yeah, I mean she's always helping others, and she expects nothing in return. I don't know about you guys, but I definitely want to help her." Tenten said.

"Yeah I agree." Sakura and Ino chorused. "Since we can't sleep, why don't we go and see Hinata?" Sakura asked.

"What about the boys?" Tenten asked.

"Forgot them, they won't notice that we have left, besides what we need to worry about are Neji and the other Hyuugas." Ino said.

**Ten minutes later, by the Hyuugan guest house compound.**

"Damn it! Stop stepping on my foot, forehead girl, I bought these shoes only last week!" Ino whispered angrily.

"Stop pushing then, Ino pig, I'll fall off!!" Sakura muttered back angrily.

"Both of you, shut your traps and get moving!" Tenten ordered quietly. The other two decided to obey the older girl and kept walking along the thin ledge by the walls of the Hyuuga guest house.

It was nearing midnight, and everyone was fast asleep, except for the guards, and the three girls walking stealthily towards Hinata's room.

"Alright Ino, it's your turn." Tenten signalled Ino, when they reached the end of the ledge.

"Right! Mind Body Substitution!" Ino signalled with her hands, and immediately fell still in Sakura and Tenten's supporting hands. After about ten seconds, Ino came back.

"All clear. We can move in." Ino whispered.

Quickly before anyone could notice, three streaks jumped into the nearest window, which happened to be Hinata's. Once in they slowly closed the window and Sakura moved to close the door when...

"I'm glad you came." Sounded a clear and steady female voice. The three turned around to see who the voice belonged, but were unable to see due to the darkness around them. Suddenly a tiny glow began to spread around the area where the voice sounded from.

The three girls were shocked to see that it was Hinata who spoke. Her face held no remorse or pain from the morning, instead it was clear and serious, not the usual expression she adorns.

"Hinata? How did you know that we would come?" Sakura asked.

"How else forehead girl, by using her eyes duh!" Ino replied.

"You're right I did use the Byakugan, however that is only because I predicted that you would come." Hinata answered calmly.

"You predicted? How?" Tenten frowned.

"Well, I assumed that if I requested that you not see me and leave for the village, you would be angry and come and see me. As well as that, noticing that I was sad when you visited me in the garden, you would want to comfort me secretly, although I didn't expect Naruto to come as well."

"So you planned this before we came?" Sakura asked, feeling betrayed.

"Not exactly, I planned this a long time ago. Before you get mad, let me explain the reason. I need your help." Hinata said noticing the looks the girls gave her.

"Help?" Ino asked.

"Yes, maybe I should start from the beginning. Lady Tsunade gave me a secret mission the day before we left for the mission in Hakagure. Well technically she gave two, but I failed one. The point is that that mission is still on going.

The Anbu had acquired recent information about some radical ninjas from the Stone village who wanted to kill the Fire Country's feudal Lord. They had extremist aims, of obtaining an utopia with only the strongest of ninjas, i.e. the Stone village ninjas.

The leader of this group is now known as Hiro. He leads a group of rogue ninjas who took part in the kidnappings in Hakagure. Although Hiro himself did not appear, his right hand man took part, and I was hopping to lure the leader out by capturing his men, however it did not go according to plan.

That is also one of the reasons why I took Shikamaru's injury, because well it was his plan that I take out the enemies' chakra flow, but I held back, hoping to lure in the leader. Sorry." Hinata apologised, looking sheepish.

"So you're telling me that you planned all of this?" Tenten asked slowly in disbelief.

"Um yes, this is also one of the reasons why I didn't comfort Naruto during the mission, because I knew that if it was later, and I left the next day, Shino and Kiba would be able to figure out that something was wrong." Hinata finished.

The other three girls looked at each other surprised, and also to check if any of the others had somehow figured out that it was in fact Hinata who was behind this whole thing.

"Why aren't you stuttering so much?" Tenten asked out of the blue.

"S-Stutter, w-what do y-you mean?" Hinata asked, blushing.

"TENTEN!" Sakura and Ino chorused.

"She normally doesn't stutter when she is really focused, or takes charge of something." Ino said. Sakura nodded in agreement, after all they had both seen that before.

"Alright fine, everything you've said up to now makes sense, but I've got one question? If these ninjas are really that dangerous, and planning to kill the Feudal Lord, why did Lady Tsunade assign you the mission, logically it should be the Anbu, right?" Tenten asked. This time Sakura and Ino agreed with her.

"You're right, i-it should be the Anbu, but well..." Hinata sighed deeply, "I-I'm t-training t-to be an Anbu."

"WHAT!" The three girls shouted in unison.

"This morning I told my brother a little white lie, even though I didn't want to. I told him that I'm going to marry Lard Kaien so that I can have enough power to get rid of the Caged Bird Seal and to unite the two Hyuuga families, however although that is my aim, I don't want to marry Lord Kaien.

I refuse to give up my dreams and the one I love. I will fight for it. If I complete this mission safely, I will gain the right to become Anbu and the leader of the Hyuuga family, without marrying anyone. My father will finally accept that I am strong.

I realise that I'm not as strong as you or as any others, but I'm willing to try hard. I will become strong and one day I will be recognised by my father, and Naruto." Hinata said sadly, but with a fierceness that surprised the girls but caused them to smile.

"That's settled then. We will help you. You can explain everything to us later, what we need to do and the sort, because the sun's beginning to come out. By the way I've got a question, we've made a lot of noise and yet no one came to check, why is that?" Sakura asked confused.

"I laid out a chakra shield around the room so that no sound, or chakra would get thorough." Hinata explained.

As the girls left that night, they were all proudly thinking the same thing, that Hinata has become strong, and is prepared to fight for what she believes.


	17. PREVIEW

**Hi guys, I'm really sorry that I took ages to update. You see I had sprained my thumb and wasn't able to write anything for a while, and now I've got to catch up on three essay all due in next week. Today I finally completed the experiments I had been working on for three weeks!!! So again I'm really sorry and thanks for all your support.**

**Before you read this, THIS IS JUST A PREVIEW! I haven't had the time to complete, I'll probably get it done by this weekend so please give me sometime. Meanwhile you could read this and tell me what you think about it. **

**Thanks Kasuchi,Koichi for your review, I understand what you mean, but you see I've got it all planned out and I can't tell you the end but I'm sure you'll like it. Please review.**

**Thanks helovestowrite for your review, I was worried I had gone over the top but thanks for reassuring me. Please review me about the preview.**

**Thanks Bara-no-Shikyo, nice name, don't know where you got it from but it sounds cool. Thanks for reviewing, please tell me what you think about the preview.**

**Yo HellsingOtaku, thanks for your review. Please review.**

**Thanks Conejo Uzumaki for your review. Please review.**

**Thanks guys, and please review!!**

"All clear. There is no disturbance. Over." An anbu spoke quietly through his concealed receiver. Him and his team mates were currently hiding out surrounding the center of the fire nation. There were several ninja and anbu who were also in disguise protectiong the unaware fuedal lord.

"Stay in sight. Keep the lookout. Over."

Meanwhile by the Hyuuga bath house.

"Ah, this is so relaxing. Man Hinata, I know you wanted us to work together secretly and all, but even I wouldn't have thought of a more secret and yet relaxing way." Ino said to Hinata who was blushing. Sakura and Tenten just nodded in agreement, their eyes closed in content.

"Well I put up a chakra barrier around us anyway, and I know that brother Neji would keep a look out for us." Hinata said.

"Neji?! But I thought you said you lied to him!" Tenten sprang out of the water, a huge blush adorning her cheeks.

"Yes, I did, but please think carefully, although my feelings at the time were not false, I said what I felt, but remember that there are spies everywhere, I couldn't say the wrong thing at the wrong time. I explained this to him later in privacy, of course he already knew anyway." Hinata replied calmly.

"He did, but how?!" Sakura asked, as surprised as Tenten.

"W-Well, I-I h-hope he doesn't m-mind, but h-he is also training t-to be Anbu." Hinata stuttered nervously.

"Yeah, well I guess that makes sense." Tenten said satified.

"Wait a second, you knew he was training to be Anbu, Tenten?" Ino asked slyly.

"Of course, I'm his team mate after all. What else do you expect?" Tenten said shrugging.

"Uh huh, sure." Sakura said, secretly winking at Ino, who winked back.

"And I'm guessing that Shikamaru knows as well. He didn't say anything when I went against his orders during the last mission, so I think he does. I'll have to ask brother Neji to talk to him." Hinata notified the others. "Alright, I'll let him know right away, meanwhile I need you girls to keep this a secret and meet me again in my room in half an hour without letting anyone else know."

"Right!" The three girls chorused in unison.

Half an hour later in Hinata's bedroom.

"This is so troublesome. Where are the girls?" Shikamaru asked lazily, slouching next to the wall.


End file.
